Epaper_23-02-26 ISB

Sunday, 26 February, 2023 I 5 Sha ʻ ban, 1444

‘Fake news’: Govt rejects reports of salary, pension suspension

IMF flags debt restructuring hurdles, says banning crypto should be an option

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Boeing temporarily halts 787 deliveries

Meta heats up Big Tech’s AI arms race with new language model

Pakistan delivers tough message to afghan taliban over ‘cross-border attacks’

yaqoob took the matter of the drone attack carried out by the us last year in kabul, according to the official source.

in august of last year, us president joe Biden announced that his forces had killed al-Qaeda chief ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike, which the taliban interim administration refused to accept openly. the afghan officials alleged that the us launched the attack while using pakistani airspace, but islamabad rejected the claim, saying the us was never allowed to use its airspace against afghanistan.

Trade through Torkham border resumes

PESHAWAR: the normal trade and movement of people between pakistan and afghanistan fully resumed on saturday after the two sides reopened a key border crossing that was shut nearly a week ago by kabul’s taliban rulers, stranding people and thousands of trucks carrying food and essential items. the afghan embassy in islamabad announced the reopening of the torkham border on saturday on twitter. officials from pakistan and a taliban-appointed administrator in afghanistan’s nangarhar province also confirmed the border crossing is open to passengers and trade.

Pakistanhas warned the interim taliban administration that if terrorists involved in cross-border attacks in the country are not eliminated, islamabad would take action against them within afghanistan, an official said.

a high-level delegation led by defense minister khawaja muhammad asif delivered this message to afghanistan’s acting deputy prime minister mullah abdul ghani Baradar during his daylong visit to kabul this week.

asif was accompanied by lt. gen. nadeem ahmed anjum, the head of the inter-services intelligence (isi) agency, and other senior officials from the defense and foreign ministries.

“our delegation delivered a very loud and clear message to afghan taliban leadership to stop afghanistan-

based militants of the tehreek-i-taliban pakistan (ttp) from launching any spring offensive inside pakistan and eliminate them from afghan soil,” a senior security official told anadolu agency on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. “in case of failure to stop the ttp from cross-border attacks and does not take any action to eliminate them or expel them from their hideouts, then pakistan has no other choice except to target their hideouts in border areas inside afghanistan,” said the official, who claimed to be well aware of the meeting’s details.

in response, the official claimed that Baradar denied the presence of ttp, a conglomerate of several militant groups in pakistan that islamabad believed were currently inside afghanistan. later, the meeting was also joined by acting afghan interior minister sirajuddin haqqani and acting defense minister mullah mohammad yaqoob, where

taliban officials also insisted that the ttp has no presence in afghanistan, with all of its leadership having relocated to pakistan following the taliban’s takeover of kabul in august 2021.

“we showed them proof of how ttp planned and carried out recent attacks in Bannu and peshawar from afghanistan and warned them that any further attack would result in a tough response from pakistan,” the security official said.

he was referring to the Bannu counter-terrorism facility, which was taken over by ttp militants for three days in december last year, killing at least two security personnel before the pakistan army killed all of the terrorists in an operation. over 100 people, mostly police officers, were also killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound in northwestern peshawar late last month.

when asked about the expected pakistani response in the event of an attack, the official said, “we have no other option but to target militants’ hideouts in border areas inside afghanistan.”

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g weekly inflation jumps to 40pc as another policy rate hike Becomes almost certain

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shAhnAwAz Ali

despite the conclusion of the mission’s physical visit two weeks ago, there is still a stall in the signing of the imf staff level agreement. the pakistan government has been in virtual negotiations with the washington-based fund, ever since. according to media reports and officials close to the development, the hold in the fund’s disbursement is due to differences in the power sector debts and the current policy rate. the imf requires an at least 2% increase in the policy rate, which was hinted at in the recent t-bill auction. meanwhile, the week on week inflation, on the basis of the sensitive price index (spi)

exceeded the 40% mark this week for the first time in five months. as per official data by the pakistan Bureau of statistics, the short-term prices on the week ending in february 2022 was 41.5% lower than the same week in 2023.

the onus of this inflation is mainly on the back of cigarettes, fuel, onions, chicken and eggs. the week preceding this one, saw an year-onyear inflation of approximately 38%. even on a weekly basis,

the previous week-on-week reading of 2.9% was the highest since october 27, when the change in spi was 4.1 %, as per official data. the headline inflation calculated through the consumer price index (cpi) was recorded at 27.6% in january and is expected to be significantly higher during the ongoing month. after the new taxes introduced in the mini budget, inflation figures are expected to go north of 30% in the monthly statistics. as of now, pakistan awaits the imf tranche as funds from the chinese development fund, worth 700 billion were realized on february 25, according to a tweet by finance minister ishaq dar.

the announcement sparked a wave of joy among those who had been waiting for the reopening of the international trade route since sunday, when afghanistan’s taliban rulers closed the crossing.

the taliban had claimed islamabad was not abiding by an agreement with kabul to allow sick afghan patients and their caretakers to cross into pakistan without travel documents for medical care.

last monday, afghan taliban forces and pakistan’s border guards exchanged fire, wounding a pakistan army soldier. since then, officials from the two sides were in talks to resolve the issue amid demands from people on both sides to immediately reopen the crossing. The AssociATed Press

KABUL AnAdolu Agency

Staff level agreement with IMF still awaited

g taliBan told pakistan would have no other choice But to target ttp hideouts inside afghanistan if they failed to take action

g pakistani officials showed proof of how ttp planned and carried out recent attacks in Bannu and peshawar from afghanistan

PAKISTAN BREAKFAST AT WEF SummIT 2023 IN DAVOS

pRofIt RepoRt

pReSS ReleaSe

JANuARy18, 2023: For the 20th time at DAVOS Pathfinder Group, this time in partnership with uBank, hosted the traditional PAKISTAN BREAKFAST at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Summit 2023.

The Chief Guest, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Climate Change Ms Sherry Rehman, highlighted the havoc played on the people of Pakistan because of climate change, its effect on our financial landscape and the deteriorating regional situation because of the security challenges in and around Afghanistan.

WEF’s Managing Director Mirek Dušek emphasized WEF’s commitment to helping Pakistan showcase its achievements and deliver positive impact for its people by having brought together for many years leaders from business government, international organizationand civil society to promote Pakistan’s potential. Mentioning WEF’s EDISON ALLIANCE, as a global movement accelerating collaboration between the ICT community and other critical sectors of the economy. He congratulated Pathfinder for working with over 350 organizations of the Alliance from the public and private sectors committed to improving the lives of 1 billion people with better solutions for

21 truck relief convoy from Pakistan reaches malatya

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

A 21-truck convoy carrying 275-ton relief assistance goods from Pakistan arrived at Malatya, one of the worst hit cities of Turkiye by the earthquake Saturday afternoon. The truck convoy carrying mainly winterized tents, blankets and other essential relief goods departed from Pakistan on February 11 and reached Turkiye via Iran. The convoy was received by Deputy Mayor Malatya Hakan Ezgi, Ambassador Fazli Corman of Turkish MOFA, Pakistan Embassy Deputy Ambassador, Abbas Sarwar Qureshi, Commander Mehmet Bhaktiyar and officials from AFAD and local administration. under the directions of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, an air bridge was established immediately between Islamabad and Ankara on February 6 to transport rescue teams and deliver essential relief goods. As of now, 20 flights have brought relief assistance goods to Turkiye. A ship carrying earthquake relief goods is also scheduled to leave Pakistan for Turkiye soon. Speaking on the occasion, Abbas Sarwar Qureshi stated that Pakistan and Turkiye have a glorious history of supporting each other under all circumstances. As per the wishes of the Prime Minister and the people of Pakistan, relief assistance shall keep coming from Pakistan to brotherly Turkiye till complete recovery and rehabilitation, he added.

NAB taps deputy chairman Zahir Shah as acting boss

LAHoRe

ahmad Saad

Zahir Shah, deputy chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), has been appointed as the acting head of the dirty money watchdog following the resignation of Aftab Sultan on Tuesday. According to a notification issued by the bureau on Friday, Shah assumed the position from February 22 in accordance with the proviso to Section 6-B(V) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. Shah previously served as the director general of operations of the bureau and was later appointed as its deputy chairman in October 2021. Having served with the agency for nearly 20 years, he brings a wealth of experience to his new role. His appointment comes in the wake of Sultan’s sudden resignation who stepped down, after serving as the head of the agency for only seven months, reportedly after refusing to comply with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government which had allegedly asked him to build cases against former prime minister Imran Khan. Sultan, a former director-general of the Intelligence Bureau, was appointed to the post in July of last year for a “nonextendable period” of three years, but came at odds with certain quarters of the state apparatus which prompted his departure. According to Geo News, Sultan was asked to perform “certain [tasks] which were not acceptable to me”, following which he tendered his resignation to the prime minister. Journalist Mubashir Zaidi said the former policeman resigned primarily because he refused to build a case against the chairman of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party. This is not Shah’s first stint as acting chairman, as he previously held the position for a month in June 2022, prior to the appointment of Sultan.

(1) Financial Inclusion, (2) Education & (3) Health. He said that Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG)’s “Asaan Mobile Account” (AMA) Scheme, the World Bank financial inclusion Initiative regulated by both State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was shortlisted by WEF’s EDISON ALLIANCE for being No 3 in the world for financial inclusion and thus one of the Lighthouse Countries (only 2 at the moment).

Mr Ross Perot Jr, Chairman Perot Companies uSA and former Chairman Eastwest Institute (EWI), called for strengthening the uS Pakistan relationship positively to deter the discriminatory

policies of the present non-inclusive Afghan regime with its inherent potential for increasing terrorism in the region and the world. He said that while military ties were important, the emphasis should be primarily economic for the future.

Speaking at the event Mr Kabeer Naqvi President & CEO uBank commented about the partnership with Pathfinder Group and said, “As a mission driven bank with financial inclusion for citizens across all societal segments as our objective, we are glad to have entered into this collaboration with Pathfinder Group. This gives us an opportunity to expand our digital outreach and bring the unbanked population into the financial ecosystem in

Chairman NEPRA refuses to reconsider fixed power charges for industry

pRofIt RepoRt

Shahab omeR

Chairman National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Tausif

H. Farooqui will not reconsider the imposition of the Maximum Demand Indicator (MDI) fixed electricity charge on the business community, he told representatives of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday.

The MDI is a fixed charge on industrialists that they have to pay even if they are not using electricity, and Farooqui said it was important in order to cover costs of producing power and making it available to industries.

During a session with Farooqui in Lahore on Saturday, LCCI President Kashif Anwar requested the NEPRA Chairman to play his role in rolling back the MDI charge. He drew the chairman’s attention towards the issue, saying that, a few months back, NEPRA had imposed MDI charges on all

industrial and commercial consumers under which they were charged 50% of their sanctioned load.

“The electricity bill has to be paid without using the units. If they use electricity more than 50% of their allotted load, then they will pay the bill according to the units used instead of MDI charges,” Anwar said. He said the decision is affecting the business community whose industrial units are closed or whose work is done on a seasonal basis. He said this matter had also been taken up with the CEO of Lahore Electric Supply Company, who has assured all possible support to the business community in this regard.

The chairman, however, explained that power sector dues, which include import costs, are to be met by charging according to allocations. He added that the cost of production is already very high because the country depends on imported fuels and the devaluation of currency has worsened matters.

“Seasonal businesses can disconnect their electricity connections and reconnect when they need electricity but the cold storages are not a seasonal business, and they work throughout the year and meet the needs of vegetables, fruits and perishable items of the country,” Farooqui said.

Chairman NEPRA said that, at the rate at which Discos were charging MDI charges, they were paying 10% more to Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee (CPPA-G). “This is a very low price that they are charging,” he said.

“We are having a hearing next week on MDI. By joining it, the business community can let us know about their concerns. If businessmen are using more than 50% electricity, they are not charged any MDI. If one has a high sanctioned load while usage is low then it needs a rethink,” Farooqui stressed. He said that it had been decided that the rate of net metering will remain at Rs 19.90 and will not be less than that.

Man claims he was forced to accuse Usman Dar of corruption

LAHoRe INp

Former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has brought a citizen before the media who was allegedly abducted and tortured to give false statements against usman Dar, ARy News reported on Saturday.

Imran Khan addressed the media via video link today along with PTI leader usman Dar and a citizen who had been allegedly abducted and tortured.

“I want to tell the nation about what is happening in the country. Attempts are being made to turn Pakistan into a Banana republic. No one is caring about the law and the constitution but the law is in hands of the powerful people,” he added.

The PTI chief said that people are being forced to give false statements after the ouster of the PTI government. “Attempts were made to file fake

cases, corruption casesand run audiotapes to blackmail us,” he said.He said that the affected citizen namely Javed Ali will tell his story by himself. He added that usman Dar had facilitated Javed Ali to get a watchman’s position – a Grade 4 government job.

Javed Ali said that he works as a watchman in the education department and he was summoned via a telephone call.“Four policemen came in and shifted me to an unknown location after covering my face with a cloth. Some unidentified men had also come there.”

Six PTI Pindi leaders shifted to Shahpur Jail from Adiala

SARGoDHA Staff RepoRt

Six leaders of the 47 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and leaders, including six former MNAs and MPAs who had been surrendered to police and were taken to Adiala Jail Friday, were shifted to Shahpur Jail in Sargodha on Saturday. The PTI leaders and workers in Rawalpindi surrendered to police on the third day of the party’s ‘Jail Bharo’ movement, which party Chairman Imran Khan had announced in reaction to arrests of party leaders in fake cases. All the leaders were shifted to Shahpur jail in a prison van late Friday night.

The PTI leaders who were shifted to Shahpur included: Sadaqat Abbasi, Zulfi Bukhari, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Latasab Satti, Ijaz Khan Jazi and others. After Lahore and Peshawar, the campaign reached Rawalpindi on the third of ‘Jail Baro Tehreek’ on Friday. The movement was kicked off on Wednesday from Lahore where core leadership from Punjab, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad

umar, Senator Azam Khan Swati, and Omar Sarfaraz Cheema gave court arrests. The ‘court arrest’ drive was launched in protest over “violations of the fundamental rights”, “abuse of the Constitution”, “unprecedented inflation” and “economic meltdown”.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan lauded PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) leadership for a massive turnout in ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’. The former prime minister Imran Khan in his tweet congratulated the KP PTI parliamentarians for leading the ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ from the front. He wrote, “Today was a massive turnout led by PTI’s KP leadership for the Jail Bharo Tehreek. Congratulations to our KP PTI parliamentarians for leading from the front and to our workers for their janoon (passion) and commitment.” Earlier, Imran Khan had said there were two main reasons for the campaign that aimed at achieving ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ [real freedom]. “One, it is a peaceful, non-violent protest against the attack on our constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights,” he wrote while highlighting that illegal corruption cases and FIRs were being registered against the PTI leaders.

an efficient manner”.

Chairman Pathfinder Group, Zarrar Sehgal shared his views on the importance of this Digital Inclusive Finance and how the digital transformation for Financial Inclusion will be benefited through the AMA Scheme. Thanking the WEF through Mirek Dušek for the EDISON ALLIANCE’s consideration of Pakistan as a possible Lighthouse Country, he said this will attract more investment into Pakistan specially in Fintech and Banking industry. He said it is a proud moment for Pakistan for VRG to have Pakistan mentioned as No. 3 in the world in financial inclusion in the EDISON ALLIANCE report.

He added that NEPRA has issued licenses for 65,000 MW power supply while the total requirement was 23,000 MW across the country.

“We currently have an installed capacity of 43,000 MW. A total of 65% of electricity generation is done on imported fuels. We don’t have dollars. The rupee has devalued due to which coal has also become expensive. Due to depreciation, our cost has increased eight times and overall input cost has increased by 16%. How is it possible that despite the 16% increase in input cost, we do not increase the tariff?” Farooqui said.

Anwar also pointed out that rumors were circulating that the proposal to reduce the rate of net metering was under consideration.

“On the one hand, we are worried about reducing our import bill. Our fuel import bill is $23 billion. In such a situation, we have to shift to renewable energy but they are reducing the rates of net metering. If such a decision is taken, there will be a lot of discouragement from the government in promoting the use of renewable energy, especially solar energy,” he said.

He also requested NEPRA chairman to remove the confusion about the net metering rate.

CTD busts seven TTP-militants from Lahore, other cities

LAHoRe

Staff RepoRt

The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department on Saturday claimed to have captured seven terrorists, said to be affiliated with outlawed TTP from Lahore and other cities of the province. A spokesperson for the CTD told media on Saturday that the CTD launched an operation following credible information about the presence of terrorists and managed to arrest seven terrorists from Lahore and other cities. He said that the captured terrorists belonged to the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. He said the militants were identified as: Ahmad ullah, usama, Nazeer, Hammad, Abdul Rehman, and Aman ullah. He informed the CTD also recovered material used in making suicide jackets, explosives and arms from the possession of the militants. The spokesperson revealed that the terrorists had planned targeting sensitive installations and other areas. He informed the CTD has arrested 80 suspects during 423 combing operations conducted this week across Punjab.

PTI Karachi MNAs move SHC against acceptance of resignations

KARACHI

Staff RepoRt

Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Karachi MNAs on Saturday moved Sindh High Court (SHC) against the acceptance of their resignations by National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. In the petition, they maintained that after the LHC verdict, the speaker could not issue any notification regarding acceptance of their resignations. The petitioners further prayed court to suspend the ECP notifications as case is already pending in the Lahore High Court (LHC). A total of 123 PTI MNAs had resigned en masse on April 11 last year after the success of no-confidence motion against their party chairman and then prime minister Imran Khan. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking postponement of March 16 by-polls to nine Karachi National Assembly (NA) constituencies. The former PTI Karachi MNAs wrote a letter to the election watchdog to postpone by-polls to nine Karachi constituencies in light of the LHC verdict on PTI MNAs’ resignations. The by-elections on NA seats will be held on March 16.

PuNJAB GOVT VOWS TO ImPlEmENT Pm’S AuSTERITy POlICy

LAHoRe Staff RepoRt

CARETAKERChief Minister

Punjab Mohsin Naqvi presided over the 7th provincial cabinet meeting at CM Office on Saturday which decided to implement austerity policy measures adopted by the federal government. The Punjab Cabinet lauded the austerity policy of the Prime Minister and sought a comprehensive plan to adopt austerity measures at every level. The Austerity Committee will put forth

practicable recommendations with regard to saving government resources and adopting austerity measures. Caretaker CM and Caretaker Provincial Ministers will set an example regarding austerity and saving. Caretaker CM Mohsin Naqvi underscored that everyone would have to play his active role to adopt austerity at the government level in view of dire economic conditions. It was decided during the cabinet meeting that the officers of Punjab government would donate their one to three days salary to help the earthquake affectees

Imran caught ‘red handed’ stealing Rs 58 billion: maryam Nawaz

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Chief Organiser

Maryam Nawaz on Saturday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was the first ever prime minister who was caught red-handed stealing over Rs 58 billion as his “Chor Dako” narrative has fallen flat. In a series of tweets, she alleged that former first lady Bushra Bibi used to demand bribe up to five-carat diamond and jewellery for signing a file. Imran had proved himself guilty of all forms of corruption, she said. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen! your squeals are not amiss as you have been the king of conspiracies, thriving [and] surviving on them with the help of your Godfather Faiz and his vestiges,” she wrote on Twitter. Maryam challenged Khan to “watch the spoilt brat checkmate you so Godsons [and] pawns like you are relegated to irrelevance”. Accusing Khan of avoiding courts and “begging for adjournments”, she said that this was a “glaring admission of you being guilty”. “Plastered leg will no more save you. Man up [and] face the law,” she said challenging the former prime minister to face the judiciary. She said her tweets had made them (PTI) speechless but their own deeds that defied their rhetoric. “First ever time they are on their own & unable to grapple with the changed realities. They & their masters are done & dusted Insha’Allah,” Maryam Nawaz said.

Pakistan delivers tough message to Afghan Taliban over ‘cross-border attacks’

ContInUeD fRoM pAGe 01

“We have delivered this message to them,” he added. Tensions between the two neighbours rose after the Taliban removed border fencing at some points along the crossing, resulting in an increase in TTP terrorist attacks inside Pakistan in recent months. Previously, Pakistan was believed to have some influence over the Afghan Taliban, and their return to power was seen as a major strategic victory for Islamabad. However, relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent months. Baradar was one of the top commanders who had reportedly spent years in the captivity of Pakistani forces before being released to lead the Taliban delegation in the landmark Doha talks in 2020, which cleared the way for the re-capture of Afghanistan. The Afghan Information Ministry in a statement later said the two sides discussed “bilateral relations, trade, economic cooperation, and security matters” during the meeting. Baradar urged Islamabad to facilitate all Afghan travelers at the Torkham and Chaman borders, as well as to provide special facilities for patients in need of emergency treatment. He also called for the release of Afghan nationals incarcerated in Pakistani jails, mainly for illegally entering Pakistan. Kabul wanted to strengthen trade and economic ties with Islamabad, he said, stressing the importance of “fraternal relations” between the two neighbours. He insisted that trade and economic issues should not be separated from politics and security.

of Turkiye and Syria. Officers of grade 22 will donate their three days salary, officers of grade 21 and 20 will donate their two days salary and officers of grade 19 and 18 will donate their one day salary in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

It was proposed during the meeting to fix minimum rupees 3900 per maund wheat support price. Approval was granted during the meeting to constitute Foreign Funds Project Committee in order to ensure expeditious completion of foreign funds projects. Approval was accorded during the meeting to give on lease government land on

the basis of single source and the land being given on lease can only be utilised for agricultural purposes. Approval was granted for supplementary grant worth rupees 400 million for the police martyred package during the meeting.

Approval was accorded to make an agreement with the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital Trust for the regional blood centres of Multan, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad. It was decided during the meeting to establish a new emergency block with the cooperation of Friends Of Allied Hospital at Allied Hospital Faisalabad.

The proceeding for the construction of new emergency block in the Allied Hospital Faisalabad was endorsed under the chair of Caretaker CM Mohsin Naqvi during the meeting. Approval was granted to rename Tourism Department as Tourism, Archaeology & Museum Department during the meeting.

Provincial Caretaker Ministers, Chief Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Secretaries and concerned officials attended the meeting. Provincial Caretaker Ministers SM Tanvir and Doctor Jamal Nasir attended the meeting via video link.

ECP rejects request to defer NA-193 Rajanpur by-polls

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday turneddown the Punjab interim government’s request for delaying by-election in the NA-193 Rajanpur, scheduled for Sunday

(today). In a statement, the ECP stated that a control room has been established at the ECP secretariat to monitor the election. “The control room will be responsible for addressing complaints regarding the polling”, the ECP added.

The Punjab’s home department had approached the ECP with a request to postpone Rajanpur by-poll, citing security reasons. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had nominated Mohsin Leghari for contesting by-polls on Rajanpur’s NA193 after the PTI chief Imran withdrew

After Lahore, CAA to begin audit of Karachi airport from Monday

KARACHI

Staff RepoRt

Safety and Quality Management System (SQMS) Directorate of the Civil Aviation Authority will undertake audit of the Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport Feb 27 (Monday) following completion the Lahore airport’s audit. According to officials, the CAA, during the audit, will examine international aviation standards at Karachi Airport. The airport’s runway, terminal building, airside and other sections will be examined during the audit, the officials added. The CAA Safety and Quality Management System (SQMS) Directorate has already completed audit of the Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar airports. The directorate, during the process of audit reviews and examines international aviation standards. Internal audit of the airports across Pakistan is mandatory under International Civil Aviation Organization rules.

The CAA SQMS wing will ConduCT

AudiTor of All AirporTS: An exclusive Safety and Quality Management System Directorate has been established within CAA to support the implementation of SMS by ANS Division (ANSP) and at Aerodromes.

The ANS Division in coordination with SQMS Directorate carries out all required functions to identify hazards in the system and to mitigate the identified risks in order to maintain the target level of safety. Any significant safety-related change to the ATS system or a new procedure is only implemented after a safety assessment has demonstrated that an acceptable level of safety will be met. Pakistan CAA has also established mechanism for post-implementation monitoring to verify that the defined level of safety continues to be met.

Besides the regulatory requirement to implement SMS, ANS Division in line with the CAA organizational policy is looking forward for implementation of a quality management system based on international standard ISO 9001-2008.

Teen kills father, injures mother over forbidding from TikTok

SWAt

Syed ShahabuddIN

A youth allegedly gunned down his father and injured his mother critically on Saturday after the parents forbad him from using TikTok. The incident occurred in Ghambeer area of Jandool Tehsil in Dir Lower District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the police officials confirmed.

According to Bakht Jamal Khan, Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Jandool circle, deceased Sher Baz Khan was upset with TikTok use and unethical activities of his son 16-year-old Husnain Khan and he used to forbid his son from indulging in these activities.

Angry with his parents over chiding him time and again, Husnain fired gunshots on his father and mother, killing Sher Baz on the spot while the woman sustained critical wounds.

“The accused has been arrested while the body of the deceased and the injured has been shifted to Temargara hospital, the police officer informed, adding that deceased Sher Baz Khan was a taxi driver

and he used to stay out of the house for many days due to his long-distance travel with customers.”

The Mayar Police have registered a case on the complaint of Sher Khan, the brother of the victim, and have arrested the accused Husnain Khan along with the pistol.

It is to be noted that 16-year-old Husnain is the eldest among his four siblings – two younger sisters and one brother. He had given up on education in 7th grade and was TikTok enthusiast.

Lahore atop list of most polluted cities, Karachi sixth in world

KARACHI

Staff RepoRt

Lahore rankedatop the list of the most polluted cities in the world with port city Karachi on sixth position in the new ranking on Saturday.

According to the Air Quality Index (AQI), Lahore is the first and Karachi the sixth most polluted city in the world. The amount of polluted dust in the

atmosphere of Lahore has been recorded at 320 particulate meters.

The air in Lahore and Karachi has been declared extremely hazardous to the health of the citizens. The amount of polluted air in Karachi is recorded at 169 particulate meters.

It is pertinent here to mention that 151 to 200 degrees of pollution is harmful to health.

Pollution from 201 to 300 degrees is extremely harmful to

health. A rating greater than 301 indicates hazardous contamination, the AQI said.

On January 18, Karachi had stood first in the list of the most polluted cities in the world, while Lahore had been declared the second most polluted city in the world.

The cities were declared first and second as per the report of the Air Quality Index.

The amount of pollution

particles in the air of Karachi was 233 particulate meters, while the pollution particles in the air of Lahore were 209.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere of Karachi and Lahore was declared hazardous for the citizens.

According to the classification, pollution from 151 to 200 levels is harmful to health, while pollution from 201 to 300 levels is counted as extremely harmful to health.

his nomination papers on account of fears of disqualification in the Tyrian White case.

The seat fell vacant due to the death of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Jaffar Khan Leghari. He died on December 31, 2022, in Lahore after a prolonged illness.

Iran keen to increase trade volume with Pakistan to $5b: CG

QUettA Staff RepoRt

Iranian Consul General Hasan Golivand Darvesh on Saturday said that his country was keen increase the annual trade volume with Pakistan from the current $1.5 billion to $5 billion annually, saying the supply of 100MW additional electricity to Gwadar was a reflection of the strong bond between the neighboring brotherly Islamic countries Iranian Consul General Hasan Golivand Darvesh expressed the views while talking to Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) Director General Mujibur Rahman Qambrani during his visit to Gwadar on Saturday. On the occasion, the GDA DG informed Iranian CG about the implementation of the Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan and the under-progress development projects. The DG said the supply of 100 MW of additional electricity by Iran was a reflection of the strong friendship between the neighboring Islamic brother countries. He said the GDA had provided all basic facilities in Gwadar, including water, education, health, roads, sports fields, parks, and international airport. He said under the master plan, they were establishing a central business district consisting of 25,00 acres of land i.e. downtown and an industrial zone consisting of 20,000 acres. “With the completion of which, Gwadar will become an international economic and tourist city at the global level, which not only will guarantee the prosperity of the country but also the region.” Appreciating the development of Gwadar and the projects in the master plan, the Consul General said the development and prosperity of Gwadar were in the interest of both countries.

Iran was interested in projects to generate energy from natural sources, in which a plan to generate 300 megawatts of electricity from solar energy was under consideration, he added.

In the meeting, it was agreed to exchange delegations to highlight business, tourism, and cultural links between Chabahar and Gwadar.

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

AgAinst 38.42pc, weekly inflAtion jumps to 41.54pc

tHEweekly inflation, measured by Sensitive price Indicator (SPI), witnessed an increase of 2.78 per cent to jump to 41.54pc on a year-on-year basis for the week ended on Feb 23, rising from 38.42pc in the previous week.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statics (PBS), in the previous week, the inflation increased by 2.89pc to reach 38.42pc, for the first time the inflation crossed 40pc mark in over five months. Of the 51 items tracked, the prices of 33 items increased, six items decreased, whereas those of 12 items remained stable.

During the week under review, the items whose prices increased the most

compared to the same week a year ago were onions 372pc, cigarettes 164.7pc, gas 108.38pc, chicken 85.7pc, diesel

81.36pc, eggs 75.81pc, Irri 6/9 rice 75.41pc, broken basmati rice 74.16pc, bananas 72.22pc, washed moong pulse

pti-backed ishtiaq Ahmad elected lHcBA president

LAHORE

staff report

Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan of the Professional Group led by PTI Vice President Hamid Khan Advocate, on Saturday was elected president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) in the annual elections of the bar here.

According to the results announced, Ishtiaq secured 7293 votes by defeating Muhammad Lehrasib Khan Gondal of the Independent Group, also known as Asma Jehangir Group, who got 3372 votes.

Vice president’s slot was won by Rabbiya Bajwa, who secured 3590 votes, whereas her opponents Mian Sardar Ali Gehlan, Chaudhry Waris Ali Saroya, Iftikhar Ali Bhatti, Abdul Rauf Bhatti, and Chaudhry Ahmad Khan Gondal got 2721, 1353, 1470, 1118 and 425 votes respectively.

Sabahat Rizvi was elected as secretary by securing 4310 votes whereas her opponents Mian Muhammad Irfan and Qadir Bukhsh Chahal secured 3745 and 2672 votes respectively.

While Muhammad Shah Rukh Shahbaz Warriach was elected Finance Secretary by getting 7109 votes whereas his opponents Amir Sohail Bosal and Adil Naeem Sheikh got 2442 and 1073 votes respectively.

A total of 10776 voters used their right to vote in the elections. Biometric system was used to cast the votes.

70.39pc, and petrol 69.87pc.

However, it also noted a decrease in the prices of tomatoes (67.93 percent), chili powder (7.42 percent) and electricity charges for Q1 (6.64 percent).

The upward trend of inflation continues as Islamabad was taking measures to get the $1.1 billion IMF tranche under the Extended Fund Facility.

The federal government had also approved ‘mini-budget’, imposing additional Rs170 billion taxes to boost revenue generation in line with the preconditions of the IMF.

Sources have revealed that the stafflevel agreement between the fund and the government is expected next week.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned that inflation would further trigger after the approval of the IMF programme.

Three victims of Barkhan tragedy buried in Quetta

QUETTA staff report

Three murder victims, a woman and her two sons, found in Barkhan city of Balochistan were buried near Eastern Bypass in Quetta on Saturday.

According to reports, the family had been illegally detained in a private jail for the last four years by communications minister Abdul Rehman Khetran, inside his residence in Barkhan. He is also accused of ordering their killing.

The dead bodies were taken from Fayyaz Sumbal Square to Police Lines, then to Khan Muhammad Marri, where family members including Marri’s wife and children paid their last respects before burial at QDA Graveyard.

Patriarch, Khan Muhammad Marri, himself was present at the burial, along with a heavy police contingent.

Hundreds of Marri tribesmen, who had been

protesting in Quetta’s Red Zone for the past five days with the three bodies, called off their sit-in on Friday evening after the victims were reunited with him at the camp and authorities agreed to their demands.

The family had spent years in captivity and were not allowed to see the coffins.

Jahangir Marri, the general secretary of the Marri Ittehad Pakistan, announced the end of the protest, saying that the government had accepted their demands, which included registering an FIR after recording the statements of the victim family members who were detained and recovered by security forces.

The family were taken into protective custody and will be produced before a magistrate for recording their statements about their captivity.

Khan Marri expressed his gratitude to the Marri tribesmen and other communities who supported him during the protest, leading to the recovery of his family and acceptance of their demands.

Rude, lax cops to face strict departmental action: IGP Islamabad

ISLAMABAD staff report

Following the directions of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, strict departmental action will be taken against officials showing laxity and misbehaving with citizens.

According to police public relations officer, the IGP Islamabad said a complaint was received against constables Shajar Abbas and Azhar Hussain of

marriyum congratulates journalist on election as puj president

ISLAMABAD staff report

The minister for information and broadcasting extended her congratulations to columnist Farrukh Shehbaz Warraich on his election as the central president of the Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) unopposed on Saturday.

In a statement, Marriyum Aurangzeb expressed the belief that Warraich’s unopposed election was a reflection of the confidence the journalist community has in him, the Associated Press of Pakistan said. She further expressed her hope that Warraich and the newly-elected office bearers of the body would meet the expectations of the journalist community. Additionally, she pledged her full cooperation and support to the union in its efforts to improve the media industry and the welfare of journalists.

13 people killed as bus hits van on multan sukkur motorway

MULTAN staff report

A speeding passenger bus rammed into a van on a motorway on the Multan-Sukkur (M5) motorway late on Friday, killing 13 people and injuring several others, a police spokesman said.

The accident happened in Rahim Yar Khan, a district in Punjab, according to Mohammad Awais, a district police spokesman.

Rizwan Umar Gondal, the district police officer (DPO) in Rahim Yar Khan, said the accident occurred when the van overturned due to a tyre burst. While the stranded vehicle was being attended to by its passengers, a bus traveling behind them stopped to assist. The passengers of the bus disembarked to help those in the van.

Eagle Squad for misbehaving with the general public and misusing authority in jurisdictions of Shalimar Police.

Following the IGP Islamabad directives, CPO/ DIG (Operations) Syed Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari took notice of the complaint and conducted a transparent inquiry in which the Constables were found guilty and subsequently a case was registered against them.

The CPO /DIG Operations of

Islamabad, Syed Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari, said that the department would continue a zero tolerance policy on corruption and strict departmental action will be taken against such officers and officials who bring disrepute to the department. The officials performing their duties with hard work and good performance will be awarded and encouraged in every possible way, the protection of life and property of citizens is among the top priorities of Islamabad Capital Police, he added.

However, the situation took a turn for the worse when a speeding jeep crashed into the stationary bus, causing multiple fatalities and injuries. The impact of the collision was so severe that the bus was thrown off the road, and the passengers who had just alighted from the vehicle were caught in the collision.

Separately, Awais said the dead and injured had all been moved to a hospital.

The authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, and initial reports suggest that the driver of the jeep may have been speeding and lost control of the vehicle, resulting in the accident. Traffic accidents in Pakistan generally happen due to traffic rules violations, resulting in thousands of deaths or injuries every year. Last month, a bus crashed into a pillar and fell off a bridge, catching fire and killing 40 passengers in the southern district of Lasbela.

Court dismisses case against Umar Farooq Zahoor for ‘lack of jurisdiction’

LAHORE staff report

The court of a local judicial magistrate on Saturday dismissed a case of kidnapping of his own two minor daughters against businessman and Liberia’s Ambassador at Large Umar Farooq Zahoor and two others, for not being the proper forum, ruling the FIA should not have registered the case in Lahore at the first place.

The kidnapping case was registered against businessman and Liberia’s Ambassador at Large Umar Farooq Zahoor, Sadaf Naz and Muhammad Zubair by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in June 2020.

Ghulam Murtaza Virk, Judicial Magistrate Section 30 of Lahore, said in his order that the alleged kidnapping of teens – Zainab and Zuneira took place in Karachi around 14 years ago according to the prosecution. Therefore, the proper forum for the prosecution of the case should be Karachi, not Lahore.

“Therefore, this court at Lahore has got no jurisdiction to decide this case, hence, the file of this case along with all the enclosures and evidence is returned to the prosecution to file it before the proper forum,” the judge said in his order.

Zahoor has complained that his former wife Sophia Mirza conspired with former accountability minister Shahzad Akbar and FIA’s director (late) Dr Rizwan in June 2020 and registered fake cases of money laundering and kidnapping against him to set the FIA on him, unleashing a campaign of revenge. And today’s order of the learned magistrate has vindicated his stance that Akbar had put his authority to wrong use by forcing the FIA Lahore to register false cases against him despite the fact that the agency lacked the jurisdiction.

The magistrate was hearing the case related to the accusation by former model Sophia who had complained that her former husband Zahoor with help of his friends – Naz

and Zubair arranged the kidnapping of the couple’s minor daughters to Dubai in September 2009 after their marriage fell apart. The court order notes that as per Naz’s petition, there is an unexplained delay of

over 10 years in registration of the FIR in the alleged offence that took place in 2009 in Karachi and the prosecution had produced nine witnesses but failed to bring on record iota of incriminating material against the accused. Naz had pleaded that she was dragged into the “fake and fictitious” case without any reason therefore the case against her should be dismissed.

It’s understood that the case will now be sent to FIA Karachi to complete the remaining investigation after judge Virk’s ruling.

Zahoor’s lawyer Rana Rehan pointed out that this matter was settled a long time ago in 2013 by the Supreme Court when Sophia accepted a payment of Rs10,00,000 from her former husband and settled the case. He pointed to the ruling made by a three-member bench of the apex court whereby the matter between Sophia and Zahoor was finally disposed of with the observations that the said amount has been paid to the model.

The lawyer further added that the initiation of criminal proceedings on a matter already settled by the Supreme Court showed the malafide of the complainant.

In June last year, it has been revealed after an investigation how Sophia posing as a concerned Pakistani citizen using the name of Khushbakht Mirza registered a complaint against Zahoor alleging fraud and moneylaundering of around Rs16 billion.

Sophia had called on the FIA to take action against Zahoor “for the sake of Pakistan’s name and to prevent financial crimes against Pakistan” and the FIA under the instructions of Akbar immediately obliged. Two separate cases were registered against Zahoor by FIA’s Corporate Crime Circle under Dr Rizwan.

Sophia had falsely accused Zahoor’s involvement in gold smuggling, illegally acquiring billions of rupees in fraud from various countries, defaming Pakistan, and defrauding businesses in Pakistan.

Two deAd, 3 InjuRed AS PIllAR of undeR ConSTRuCTIon BHARA KAHu flyoveR CAveS In

iSLamabad STAFF REPORT

TWOlabourers dead and three others sustained multiple injuries when a pillar of an under-construction flyover on Bhara Kahu bypass project collapsed on Saturday, the Islamabad police said.

According to a tweet by the police, two injured labourers were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where one of them succumbed to injuries while three other labourers were shifted to Polyclinic Hospital where one of them breathed his last.

The police said senior officials of the police and ad-

ministration — including Islamabad Inspector General (IG) Dr Akbar Nasir and Chief Commissioner Noorul Amin Mengal — rushed to the scene after the incident.

In a separate tweet, it said a committee, which will be headed by Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon, has been constituted to “review all aspects related to the incident”.

Noorul Amin Mengal, chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), said that according to the preliminary investigation, “two to three huge trolleys (trucks) had passed by the bridge between 23am and had hit it”.

He added that both “safety and traffic protocols” had been violated and a committee had been formed to find

out “who was responsible so they could take legal action against them”. The CDA official said further details will be revealed once the committee finds them out.

Talking about the Bhara Kahu bypass project, he termed it a “very complicated project” as it was a “challenge to close the one-link” that leads to the northern areas.

Saying that the project had entered a “critical stage”, Mengal said heavy traffic needed to be shut down. Mentioning construction work still left, he said the administration would have to enforce stricter rules and “the citizens would also have to bear difficulties” for while.

Earlier in the day, the police had tweeted alerting citizens of the incident and advising them to avoid the flyover so that rescue activities were not hindered.

Business Advisory Committee of Senate discusses austerity measures

iSLamabad

APP

A special session of the Business Advisory Committee of the Senate was convened by Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on Saturday at the Parliament House to review and discuss austerity measures in wake of current financial situation of the country.

At the outset , Chairman Senate observed that hard decisions have to be taken to overcome challenges on the economic front, said a press release issued here.

He also sought recommendations from parliamentary heads of various political parties in the Senate and called for putting weight behind the

government decisions to strictly implement the austerity plan in the best interest of the country.

The committee was also briefed about the steps taken for the celebration of the golden jubilee of the senate. He said that all out steps have been taken to celebrate it in a simple way.

He informed that previous events and special sessions at four provincial assemblies were also planned and foreign dignitaries of friendly countries were extended invitations, however, keeping in view the current situation, all these measures have been reviewed.

The whole event will now take place in Islamabad and regrets would be extended to counterparts abroad.

He said that the Senate Secretariat is also working on a proposal to reduce

CS Balochistan reviews uplift schemes in Gwadar

Quetta APP

Chief Secretary Balochistan Abdul Aziz Aqeeli visited Gwadar on Saturday and inspected various development projects in the city under Gwadar Development Authority (GDA). Chief Secretary during his visit reviewed the sewage treatment plant, water storage tank and pipeline project under construction in different parts of the city launched to solve the sewage and water problems in the city. Director General GDA Mujibur Rehman Qambrani while briefing the CS said that GDA is supplying 3 million gallons of water on a daily basis from Shadi Cover and Sod Dam to Airport Water Station. “3.5 million gallon storage underground water tanks are under construction at three different places in the city, which be completed soon,” he said adding that water supply to the surrounding population has started on a trial basis from the two million gallon storage tanks under construction at Central Park. On this occasion, Chief Secretary directed to ensure the timely completion of all public projects.

Rana Asif Saeed elected as President HCBA Multan

MULTAN: Rana Asif Saeed won the slot of President in High Court Bar Association's (Multan) elections, here on Saturday. According to unofficial results, he bagged 3230 votes while his opponents Sajjad Haider Matela and Riaz ul Hassan Gillani secured 1997 and 900 votes respectively. Similarly, general secretaryship was won by Haseeb Qadir. He secured 3475 votes. However, his rival candidates Anees Mehdi got 1520 and Ishtiaq Gujjar 659 votes. APP

the fuel limit for chairpersons of committees. Besides, no additional honorarium will be extended to employees of the senate during the current financial year, he said. There was also a proposal to impose a ban on foreign visits for three months. The chairman senate observed that all these steps will help reduce the burden on the national exchequer.

He said that Senate special session has already been summoned on 15, 16 and 17 March 2023. This will provide an ample chance to the senators to highlight the historical significance of the upper house, the Chairman Senate observed. He further informed that former members of the senate have also been invited.

Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq

Dar brushed aside the rumours about Pakistan's default. He said there are economic hardships and efficient steps have been taken to overcome them. He, however, said that it is a collective responsibility and the whole nation has to contribute. There is a need to avoid unnecessary expenditures. He said that his team is working day and night and soon will be able to rid the country out of the economic mess.

The chairman senate while expressing satisfaction on the steps taken by Ishaq Dar and his team expressed his well wishes for him. He expressed the hope that the country will soon overcome the challenge. He called for national support to the austerity drive. He agreed with the views of the Finance Minister.

Two cops martyred in Khuzdar

‘remote control blast’: police

Quetta STAFF REPORT

A van driver and a policeman were martyred and another two injured in a “remote-controlled blast” in Khuzdar district of Balochistan on Saturday, according to a police official.

Initially, the police said that terrorists carried out the “magnetic bomb attack” on the security squad of Khuzdar Superintendent of Police (SP) Fahad Khan Khoso. Confirming the incident, Khuzdar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Muhammad Jan Sasoli informed the media that security squad of SP Fahad Khan Khoso was targeted near Jhalawan Complex in the “remote-controlled blast”.

He said one policeman died on the spot while another succumbed to injuries at the District Headquarters Hospital, Khuzdar where the injured were moved for medical treatment.

“SP Khuzdar’s squad was patrolling in the area when the blast occurred,” SHO Sasoli said,

Meta heats up Big Tech’s AI arms race with new language model

Continued from baCk page

It described its 65-billion-parameter LLaMA model as “competitive” with Google’s Chinchilla70B and PaLM-540B, which are even larger than the model that Google used to show off its Bard chat-powered search.

A Meta spokeswoman attributed the performance to a larger quantity of “cleaner” data and “architectural improvements” in the model that enhanced training stability.

Meta in May last year released large language model OPT175B, also aimed at researchers, which formed the basis of a new iteration of its chatbot BlenderBot.

It later introduced a model called Galactica, which could write scientific articles and solve math problems, but quickly pulled down the demo after it generated authoritative-sounding false responses.

adding that additional police contingents reached the blast site and cordoned off the area.

“A search operation is currently underway,” the SHO added. CM BizeNjo orders ‘fooLproof seCUriTy’ of AreA: Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo condemned the incident and extended condolences to the families of those martyred and injured.

“Such cowardly acts cannot demoralise our security forces,” he said. “The people of Balochistan are standing side by side with the security forces”. Bizenjo added that the menace of terrorism will be defeated. He also prayed for the injured policemen and issued instructions that the best medical facilities be provided to them.

“Steps should be taken for foolproof security of the area,” he ordered. Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove also condemned the blast and instructed the district administration to provide medical treatment to the injured.

Federal govt to transform 130 schools into smart schools

giLgit APP

Chief Secretary Gilgit Baltistan Muhiudeen Wani said the federal government will transform 130 schools (primary, middle and higher Secondary levels) into smart schools through the installation of IT equipment and imparting required training for the selected teachers of the valley.

In an official statement, he said that in March, 2023 requisite smart technology would be installed in 130 schools of Gilgit-Baltistan so that they may be ready for the new sessions in April

2023.

He said as part of the package 'tech fellows' would be hired for 3 months (April - June 2023).

These 'tech fellows' will impart in person smart training in April, 2023 and will facilitate the full transformation of selected schools into smart schools.

He added that by the end June, 2023, these 130 schools of Gilgit-Baltistan will be fully equipped and functional imparting blended learning. These initiatives will be the precursor for the information technology revolution in GilgitBaltistan.

AJK PM, Ishaq Dar discuss public welfare schemes

iSLamabad STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar discussed important financial matters related to AJK and the pace of public welfare schemes and projects.

They discussed this in a called-on meeting here on Saturday.

Prime Minister AJK apprised the finance minister of the initiatives of AJK government to enhance its revenue generation and

sought the support of the federal government in this regard. The meeting also discussed the ongoing and future development projects in AJK. Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar welcomed Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and expressed the federal government’s commitment to the development and progress of AJK. He further added that the welfare and development of the people of Kashmir were among the top priorities of the government and no stone would be left unturned for its development. He offered the full assistance of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to the

AJK government in its quest to increase its own receipts. Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar highlighted the economic outlook of the country and said that despite the challenging situation, the government was determined to set the economy on stability and growth trajectory.

peopLe shoULd ALso TAke AUsTeriTy MeAsUres: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday rejected the rumours regarding Pakistan’s default and advised citizens to adopt austerity measures due to the economic crisis.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani chaired

iSLamabad PR

Mobilink Microfinance Bank Limited (MMBL), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sehat Kahani, a leading telemedicine platform, to provide affordable and accessible Outpatient Department (OPD) consultation services to its existing and potential customers. Through this partnership, MMBL customers will have access to a dedicated telehealth helpline round-the-clock from the comfort of their homes. MMBL is part of the VEON group, a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online services across seven countries. As part of its digital operator strategy, VEON is transforming people’s lives by creating opportunities for increased digital inclusion and by driving economic growth across countries that are home to more than 8% of the world’s population. Under this partnership, MMBL’s customers will be able to access Sehat Kahani’s services, including virtual consultations with qualified doctors and healthcare professionals, prescription delivery, and health advice. This alliance strives to offer an innovative solution to the healthcare challenges faced by low-income individuals and families, many of whom have limited access to quality medical services. In addition, a special medical helpline has also been created for those beneficiaries who do not own a smartphone or are unable to use the application. Speaking at the signing ceremony Ghazanfar Azzam, President and CEO MMBL said, “MMBL understands that access to quality healthcare services is an essential need.

a special meeting of the Business Advisory Committee which was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and other lawmakers.

Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan is going through an economic crisis, however, there is no risk of default. He urged that by effective government policies, the economic crisis will end soon. Sadiq Sanjrani said that a special session of the Senate is summoned from March 15 to 17 which will also be attended by the former senators. He added that all participants will be given an opportunity to present their points of view.

A large number of members of the com-

mittee attended the meeting via video link which included Deputy chairman Senate Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, Senator Faisal Sabzwari, Saleem Mandviwalla, Senator Yousaf Raza Gillani. Besides, Senators Shahadat Awan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Secretary Senate Qasim Samad Khan and Senior officers of the Senate attended the meeting.

It is pertinent to mention here that PM Shehbaz Sharif announced a number of austerity measures and directed the ministers to enforce them strictly and no laxity in this regard would be tolerated.

MMBl extends unlimited oPd consultation for customers in collaboration with Sehat Kahani

Jail Bharo Tehrik

The PTI seems to be going nowhere

THEPTI’s Jail Bharo has virtually collapsed already. Indeed, it does not seem to have been a matter of sustainability, with a strong start followed by a weak follow-through. It seemed blighted on Wednesday, when it failed to attract more than a handful of volunteers for arrest, with the police taking to the megaphones to ask volunteers to come forward, but finding few takers. The succeedng days have not been marked by any event that could be described as a turnround. Instead, PTI supporters are keeping away in droves. It was almost as if PTI chief Imran Khan was reducing things to hilarity. Karl marx once said that “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.” mr Khan seems to have taken his repetition of the Quit India movement of 1942 straight to farce. He seems to have badly underestimated the work, both motivational and organizational, that must be put in to make such a tactic succeed. He also failed to realize that one of the factors leading to success is personal example.

That, it seems, he was not willing to set. The Tehrik may delay his arrest, because the government may find it useful to leave him alone, and to show how afraid he seems to be of being arrested. another problem with the Tehrik is its lack of a clear objective. It is almost as if mr Khan announced it on a whim, after his two Long marches and dissolution of two provincial assemblies had failed to get him the elections he had asked for.

It may thus be unfair to mock those PTI leaders who were arrested on Wednesday, but who attempted to get bail on Thursday, only to find that their detentions under 3 mPO meant they would have to stay behind bars for some months.Trying to implement a sudden decision by their leader, they do not know why they are in jail. If they do get bail, how will the Tehrik succeed? after all, presumably the idea is to make the jail system, and thus the entire justice system, collapse by overwhelming it with prisoners. The way the PTI has started, and the way it is going about it, it does not seem that it will work. The PTI’s problem is that the government and the establishment have apparently lost the fear they had of it.

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami Editor

Pulling Out of Election Imbroglio

A straight forward after has been complicated for political reasons

the Chief Election Commissioner to meet the head of the State, when summoned for consultation; and the President unilaterally fixing a date for general elections of the two dissolved assemblies, without any consultation, as required by law and Constitution. no wonder, the decision stands rejected by the government. The result is stalemate.

The situation would not have arisen, if the governors of the Punjab and KP were not guilty of deliberately committing violation of the clear and categorical command of the Constitution. article 51

(3) stipulates that whenever a provincial assembly gets dissolved by the advice of the Chief minister, the governor “shall, (a) appoint a date, not later than ninety days from the date of dissolution, for a holding general election to the assembly; and (b) appoint a care-taker Cabinet”. Thus, no sooner were the assemblies dissolved than both the governors hurried to set up caretaker setups.

WHEREaSthe law and Constitution prescribe in a clear, categorical and straightforward manner the time span as well as method and procedure for holding general Elections to Parliament and provincial legislatures, the bickering between the PTI and PDm proves a stumbling block.

Such bickering serves a profound objective for each: the former is hell-bent on jumping into the electoral arena at any cost to get back on the saddle. The latter, however, foreseeing a doomsday scenario in the electoral process, owing to flop performance in governance, is out to block any such attempt. It fears the resumption of the dreadful process of accountability again, as promised by the PTI leader. Courtesy friendly Parliament, they managed to make kosher billions of rupees of the proceeds of corruption by changing the naB Ordinance and wish to continue to enjoy such immunity.

The result is deliberate efforts being made to evade the electoral battlefield. Consequently, small minions in the shape of governors are being employed to forestall any such eventuality. The casualty, regrettably, is the law and the Constitution, state institutions and the system of good governance. none is conscious of the damage inflicted on the economy, on the brink of collapse; the galloping inflation, breaking the back of the middle and lower classes; rise in militancy and terrorism, maladministration and deterioration of the law-and-order situation.

Pakistan is not cursed to be in a state of constant crises and turmoil or destined to suffer periodic bouts of political instability. The character and conduct of politicians though, made it so! The State institutions and their functionaries equally contribute to developing such scenarios through their actions and inactions. an example is the current crisis: the refusal of

Having partly complied with the same provision, they are now dragging their feet on fulfilling the remaining part, namely, fixing the election date. Being appointed by the Pm and remaining in office during his pleasure, they are obliging him, contrary to their oath of office, requiring them to honestly and faithfully perform their functions to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”. Thus, there is no ambiguity or confusion in the law or Constitution. Frankly, both of them are playing with wordings of the Constitution and deliberately attempting to violate, nay, subvert the Constitution. The Pm too cannot escape the charge of conspiring, aiding and abetting the charge.

eral election of the national assembly or a Provincial assembly.

In the current scenario, quite obviously, the President has no independent role and authority to fix a date for holding elections for provincial assemblies, hence, his present notification is an abuse and excess of authority. The rash manner, it is done, exposes him to the criticism of playing a partisan role to favour his parent political party,. the PTI.

In the given scenario, perhaps the superior courts are well-placed to come to the rescue of the democratic system and functioning of constitutional machinery in the country. Cases to this effect are pending in the High Courts and need to be promptly decided to end the electoral imbroglio, created by vested interests to serve their narrow political ends or objectives

as regards the role of the President in fixing a date for election, let it be stated that that Section 57 (1) of the Election act 2017 makes it abundantly clear that, “The President shall announce a date or dates of the general elections after consultation with the [Election] Commission”. Only thereafter, the Commission can issue notification of the election programme/schedule. The Constitution (article218) obligates the Commission to make necessary arrangements to ensure that election is conducted “honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with the law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against”. There is no clause in the law or Constitution, obliging the Election Commission to fix or announce the dates of gen-

US Exceptionalism in Mass Shootings

Why mass shootings are built in culturally

lead to the solution to the endemic prevalence of lonewolf mass shootings? The answer is: not likely, as the problem is deeply rooted in the uSa’s culture itself: the culture of rugged individualism built on its deep-seated historical myth.

Agunmankilled three students and critically injured five others on at michigan State university's main campus, before he was found dead hours later, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot. Investigators had no information about the motive and the university was not aware of any threats made to the campus before the bloodshed. Then there were the two Iowa teens who shot dead their Spanish teacher in a grade dispute. most reecently, a shooer outside a Philadelphia kindergarten shot a other and four pupils.

amid an unrelenting surge of gun massacres, many have wondered why the uSa, the world’s leading country in mass shootings over the last century, is more prone to mass shootings than any other. gun violence, though, is prevalent in many parts of the world, for instance in most parts of Latin america. But in the uSa, no form of violence is seen as more uniquely american than public mass shootings by “lone-wolf” gunmen. according to gun Violence archive, 39 mass shootings have already taken place across the country in just the first three weeks of 2023. Last year the country witnessed around 647 cases of mass shootings with the consequence of more than 44,000 death tolls due to gun violence overall.

Like its political establishment, american public discourse has long firmly been divided over what causes this epidemic. The critics of this national sickness focus their fire on the second amendment of the uS constitution and the nefarious political influence of the national Rifles association (nRa). But here it comes down to the question: will a mere constitutional amendment and the neutralization of special interest groups like the nRa

according to the national Bureau of Economic Research, rugged individualism is defined as “the combination of individualism and anti-statism … a prominent feature of american culture with deep roots in the country’s history of frontier settlement.” While individualism, as noted, may be conducive to innovation and resource mobilization, it can also undermine collective action, with potentially adverse social consequences. During the early days of the covid-19 pandemic, it was seen how the uSa’s ruggedly individualistic mindset, fomented by its frontier culture, hampered the state responses to the pandemic, with many americans having defied mandatory mask-wearing and vaccination programmes.

Likewise, the gun is a great emblem and lethal offspring of american individualism. The nation has long valorized masculine heroes– violent frontiersmen or Hollywoodized american archetype “White Loners”–who impose their will on the community’s enemies with violence. added to that deep-seated historical ideal and cultural sickness are the deteriorating trend in kinship traditions and ever-declining “rational mobility”– a condition that helps establish bonds of support beyond immediate families on the basis of socially engaging emotions such as empathy warmth, trust, affection, and so on.

Self-serving politicians and gun advocates often ridiculously propose giving more arms into the hands of “the good guys” to thwart “the bad guys with guns.” The americans’ dire wishes for gun possession, however, stem less from their sense of personal or communal security rather more from an egocentric individualistic cultural reasoning that lacks the prioritization of collective

communal safety. The unshakeable emotional and individualistic values americans attach to guns frequently override concerns about the nation's collective health and safety.

The exercise of unfettered individualism is also seen in many parts of the Western world, like in Europe; but nowhere in the world is this so infested by historical myth and pathological strains as in the uSa– what the prominent criminologist adam Lankford called “the uniquely american quality.” and where the uSa is stunningly divergent from the rest of the world is the confluence of individualistic culture and the easiest access to guns. In no other part of the world gun access and rugged individualistic culture interact in the same way.

although many European countries share the same cultural forces that produce aggrieved social outcasts, those countries erect formidable hurdles in the way of purchasing guns legally that are quite unheard of in the uSa: longer waiting periods, higher insurance costs, full-blown psychiatric evaluations, gun safety courses, among others. as a result, the country has more weapons than people: one in three adults possesses at least one firearm, and almost one in two adults resides in a home with a firearm.

But the prevalence of guns alone does not account for uS exceptionalism in mass shootings. For example, like the uSa, much of Latin america is saturated with firearms but, despite high rates of gun violence, mass shootings there by a “lone wolf” gunman are exceedingly rare. and experts pointed to the cultural difference as a powerful factor playing out in creating a huge disparity in the number of mass shooting cases between the two regions.

In the uSa, ever-increasing personal and economic struggles combined with the inherent state structural tension and identity crisis continue to produce aggrieved social outcasts. On top of this, the ever-exacerbating political climate plagued by partisan divide, racial toxicity, and xenophobic bigotry has also been influencing socially and politically aggrieved outcasts, due to the ab-

He needs to be reminded though that according to article 41 of the Constitution, as Head of the State, he “shall represent the unity of the Republic”, and is expected to be neutral. He is equally obliged to stand by the Constitution and not allow his personal interest to influence his official conduct or official decisions. He is oathbound to “do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”. Furthermore, article 48 (1) provides that, “For exercise of his functions, the President shall act on and in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or the Prime minister”. He is thus bound to follow such advice whether he likes it or otherwise. He enjoys few discretionary powers, which are clearly specified. Thus, he is required to abide by and strictly follow the constitutional scheme of things and desist from taking a step or making a decision, which tantamount to constituting a breach or infringement of the Constitution. Failing to do so, may lend him in political turmoil, and illegal or unconstitutional actions may attract the charge of subverting the Constitution. In the given scenario, perhaps the superior courts are well-placed to come to the rescue of the democratic system and functioning of constitutional machinery in the country. Cases to this effect are pending in the High Courts and need to be promptly decided to end the electoral imbroglio, created by vested interests to serve their narrow political ends or objectives.

The timely intervention of the Supreme Court in the sad saga of rejection of the no confidence motion against the former Pm Imran Khan and abrupt dissolution of the national assembly by the President on his advice, was well received by the legal and intellectual fraternities, and indeed bewildered citizens, in ending the crisis and saving the political system from another derangement. The country, already in dire straits, can ill-afford to let go of the current stalemate.

(The author served as Registrar, Supreme Court and Secretary, Law & Justice Commission of Pak-

In the USA, ever-increasing personal and economic struggles combined with the inherent state structural tension and identity crisis continue to produce aggrieved social outcasts. On top of this, the ever-exacerbating political climate plagued by partisan divide, racial toxicity, and xenophobic bigotry has also been influencing socially and politically aggrieved outcasts, due to the absence of alternative social redressing mechanisms, to seek recourse by resorting to mass violence. Here, rugged individualism works in creating the very roots of virile fantasy to violence, a toxic political milieu in fueling grievances, and finally easy access to guns in triggering off those grievances in the form of mass shooting

sence of alternative social redressing mechanisms, to seek recourse by resorting to mass violence. Here, rugged individualism works in creating the very roots of virile fantasy to violence, a toxic political milieu in fueling grievances, and finally easy access to guns in triggering off those grievances in the form of mass shooting.

The writer is a freelance columnist

suFian siDDique

Dr Faqir Hussain

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor’s mail

Pakistan Railways should do better

PaKISTanRailways (PR) is a vital mode of transportation that connects provinces, and contributes to the economic development of the country. Despite its importance, PR has faced numerous challenges over the last three decades due to poor management and lack of professional expertise.

The organisation has a large workforce of about 500 engineers recruited through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), and about 100 officers inducted through the Central Superior Services (CSS). The organisation also hires professionals on senior management positions from time to time to bring improvement to its working.

In 2022-23, the railway division allocated Rs45 billion, and another Rs32.6 billion were allocated through the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). However, from april to October 2022, the PR recorded a loss of almost Rs35 billion. When PSDP inflows and the loss due to accidents are included, the PR is losing almost Rs100 billion annually.

This significant loss raises a crucial question about the role of more than 600 officers inducted through a competitive process. It is a matter of great concern, as the loss incurred by the PR is higher than the annual budget of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Best Possible Quagmire

1993 corrective action, not out of the options!

WITHthe incumbent governors not giving any definite dates for the provincial elections in Punjab and KPK in the follow up of the PTI inspired dissolutions of 2018 elected assemblies, the ECP has taken the federal government line and the President of Pakistan; the nominee of the last government at the centre, calling for the election. It can be termed the best possible quagmire scenario, any system of government might ask for.

There are divisions within the two brothers in a political party, the gHQ that always takes credit for maintaining law and order is shy to lend support for the expected elections asked for by the situation. Practically that sort of running of the government in day to day as well as macro-affairs point towards, what any political science student would term that; ‘it is next to impossible to run the federation’. That sentence has been frequently used in many a dissolution of government orders when artcle 58 (2b) was enforced via the 1973 amended Constitution during much of the 1990s.

However, as things stand, Pakistan is all but a physical existence, where the tiers of governance have failed miserably; be it management of the economy, political deadlocks or even the maintenance of the law and order situation. Within months the strikes on two major provinces’ police installations is reflective of the administrative disarray that seems to have held the whole country hostage.

To begin with, the question of economy is directly linked to the return of normalcy in the polity and society. With political temperatures showing no signs of going down, the gamechanging investment decisions are being put on hold. The economic managers, instead of imagining the need to restore the investor confidence, are geared towards borrowing more to ‘pretend’ that the show is still running. The result of that fractured approach is that the ImF is increasingly holding the economy hostage. The results; an already high-cost economy is being gradually transformed into an economy which can only qualify as a sitting duck in a free-trade WTObased world trade regime!

Looking at the developments taking place for the last one year, it has been literally a cat and mouse game between the established order via PDm and the PTI, which fell from the grace of that very established order. The early few months until autumn gave a semblance of a massive political change, which might have the potential to undo the state structure Pakistan inherited from the British in 1947. The tone of the former Pm was to offer something like the Pakistani version of the Russian or Iranian revolutions. However as the dust settled, especially in the run-up of the selection of the new army chief, it transpired that there was no revolution on the anvil, but it was the matter of who was able to survive under the existing circumstances and rules of business.

How much the face-off with reality wore away the support base of the former Prime minister, is open to question and cannot be verified in a media infested with either party’s spokesmen posing as ‘senior sahafis’. However, if for

the common Pakistani, the routine political maneuvering should have been kept at a low temperature level, what has happened is that the whole political drama is being conducted as a somewhat ‘high-voltage’ thriller, with apparent complete support from the powers that be. The result has been a complete breakdown of any unifying influence in the society. Rather the society is more polarized than one can ‘safely’ imagine.

Talking of the quagmire; early, the stance taken by the President speaks of a political worker first, then the symbol of federation. Similarly a party-worker stance taken by the Congress-nominated president Dr Fakhreddin ahmed during the 1975 Emergency in India, might not cost him his post but his political career for all times to come. Likewise the unexplainable delay in the constitutional electoral process by the federation; this time the symbols of federation in the federating units called governors are representing the PDm and are not serious in setting the dates of the expected elections.

as things stand; two different set of symbols of federation; the President representing the PTI and the governors representing the PDm coalition at the centre are leading the country towards a quagmire of sorts. The original chaos generated due to either side failing to talk to each other; and secondly, a subjective implementation of the Constitution by both the PDm governors and the PTI President.

Pakistan, as the result of the political crisis, which is in place for the last ten months, is actually depicting the picture of what can be said as ‘federation is ceasing to work efficiently’. If one includes the Tarin-Taimoor Jhagra episode over the ImF talks, then one can only lament at the political state of affairs, where a federating unit is least sympathetic to the centre for issues involving ‘national interest’.

the circus, but in a rather clumsy manner. The judiciary; which is expected to be dragged into the deadlock for its valued opinion, will be hard pressed to make a judgement, in a manner that the federation is back on the track. Here it is pertinent to note that the developing situation is reminiscent of June/July 1993, when judgements and counter-stays finally forced the then disinterested establishment to intervene and put the federation in order. Coincidentally at that point of time, the economy was again in shambles and the intervention was made a good use by the ImF too.

It remains to be seen if any section of the established order is looking at the things from that angle too. Consequently, much of the dust will settle as things worsen. The intervention might be under duress, not for the love of the nationstate but for the interests of the players.

Towards that end, the stakes the internal establishment have on the country, and those of the international establishment, might not allow the developments to linger on endlessly. A sort of corrective action like the one adopted in 1993, when the stakes were not that high, might be needed now with a few amendments; courtesy the new realities. It remains to be seen, when the bell tolls for setting into motion the awaited ‘corrective action’.

The million Dollar question at this moment is what is the way out? The change of mood of the establishment, the proactive stance of the judiciary, or the public at large taking the things into their own hands.

The first scenario does not seems viable; on the single count that after the much-trumpeted presser of the chief intelligence officer, the establishment made its stance very clear. Its refusal to lend support for the electoral process has been the second indicator that it is trying to get out of

Finally, the intervention of the public. That has been a big question since the last time in 1968 during the ayub era; the common person came out on the street, to a lesser degree against Bhutto in 1977 and to a varying degree in support of the lawyers’ movement in 2007 in march onwards. The PTI seems to have pinned its hopes on the Jail Bharo Tehrik in a desperate bid to take people out on the street, in a society, which to date is divided and fragmented on various counts. It will be a near miracle, if the last option is taken, of people taking the situation into their own hands irrespective of the political divide. The adjustment spirit among the common person for the inflationary pressures puts a damper on such a miraculous eventuality. a single-party courtarrest campaign might not generate the necessary steam to upend the system. an acrossthe-board anger at the system might yield results, which still seems out of question. Towards that end, the stakes the internal establishment have on the country, and those of the international establishment, might not allow the developments to linger on endlessly. a sort of corrective action like the one adopted in 1993, when the stakes were not that high, might be needed now with a few amendments; courtesy the new realities. It remains to be seen, when the bell tolls for setting into motion the awaited ‘corrective action’.

The writer is a freelance columnist

Several factors contribute to the large deficit faced by the organisation. However, this is primarily due to lack of professionalism among management personnel employed in pay scales 17-22. Their incompetence has greatly impacted the daily operations and has resulted in a decline in its services and reputation. These personnel have repeatedly failed to take advantage of the available opportunities to improve the system, and continue, instead, to cling to outdated methods. The current system protects officers from wrongdoing, but fails to address the root cause of the PR decline. The internal inquiry system also punishes lower-level employees while protecting decision-makers, discouraging the latter from changing their approach.

The officers spend most of their time on clerical tasks, preventing them from exploring opportunities to improve the system. The current system also hinders the introduction of digitalisation and automation, which could address a number of issues.

There are several areas where PR can improve its operations with its existing human resources, including digitalising inventory management, developing demand-driven timetables, improving track and rolling stock maintenance, and utilising statistical data produced by the relevant branch. a digitalised inventory management system would allow for complete spatiotemporal analysis, leading towards well-optimised usage of resources and reducing inventory misuse and theft.

The train timetabling needs improvement, as the current system is not optimised and mostly depends on the expertise of the clerical staff. The maintenance and inspection of track and rolling stock infrastructure require a modern approach, incorporating computer tools and optimised maintenance plans.

The PR statistics branch is responsible for collecting, compiling and analysing data related to the organisation’s operations and performance. Despite its importance, the branch has been hindered by its outdated paperbased record system, making it difficult to gather accurate and timely data, identify trends and patterns, and make data-driven decisions.

The PR has abolished its research and development department and lacks a forum to discuss and address research-related issues. The department relies on the services of influential retired officers who have failed to bring positive change through their contractor-driven approach.

To address these challenges, the PR decision-makers should adopt best practices in line with their counterparts around the world who have successfully digitalised their systems and embraced a research culture. For instance, some railways have established partnerships with universities and research institutes to use their expertise in order to address the challenges in the industry. PR can also consider inviting renowned engineering institutes to discuss the challenges and assign dissertation topics to students with the aim of bringing forth recommendations for improvement.The railways is not only a means of transportation, it also connects the provinces, provides a platform for people from different provinces to work together and symbolise harmony. To improve its efficiency and effectiveness, PR should embrace a culture of innovation and research. This will trans- form it into a modern, efficient and sustain- able organisation that serves the people.

MUHAMMAD USAMA ALABAMA, USA

Safe City project

THEauthorities running the Safe City project in Islamabad need to be congratulated for effectively and efficiently monitoring the traffic in Islamabad and issuing e-challans to the violators. I did not realise that such technology and knowhow were available locally.

Recently, while I was moving on Faisal avenue towards Blue area, my speed was captured on the CCTV cameras of the Safe City project. Lo and behold, within minutes I was sent an e-challan on my cellphone with complete details of the vehicle, the nature and the place of violation along with my name, address and snapshot of the car.

I thought this could only happen in the united States where I had seen it while on a visit some time ago. The national Database and Registration authority (nadra) also needs to be commended for facilitating and providing the necessary infrastructure/data and software to Islamabad traffic police.

KHALED ISLAMABAD

Promote ruralisation

uRBanISaTIOnand growing population in urban centres seems to be a global phenomenon. But countries around the world have been dealing with this issue through innovative ideas and incentives. Japan, for instance, has offered families living in Tokyo one million yen, approximately Rs2 million, per child to move out of the capital to other towns, preferably villages. according to Japanese officials, this scheme will be introduced in april in areas with declining birth rates and rise in the number of aging population. In order to receive the said benefits, the families must match the criteria to move out from the greater Tokyo area to the mountainous area within the city’s boundaries. about 1,300 municipalities have already joined the scheme. The officials are expecting that the programme will help the country reduce the pressure on public services in Tokyo, which has a population of 35 million. The government is hoping that around 10,000 people will make the move from Tokyo to rural areas by 2027.Such programmes, plans and, indeed, government initiatives surely need to be replicated by countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh to overcome traffic issues, and to make cities like Karachi, mumbai and Dhaka both functional and pollution-free.

How US intelligence AgencieS Hid tHeir moSt SHAmefUl experimentS

EXCERPTED FROM THE DECLASSIFICATION ENGINE: WHAT HISTORY REVEALS ABOUT AMERICA’S TOP SECRETS BY MATTHEW CONNELLY

THE PANEL CONCLUDED THERE WAS “NO SCIENTIFIC WARRANT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA” SUCH AS “REMOTE-VIEWING”—SENSING THE LOCATION OR APPEARANCE OF THINGS THROUGH SHEER MENTAL EFFORT—OR PSYCHOKINESIS

were unconsciously influencing the dogs’ performance. this required systematically isolating the specific biochemical and physiological factors that might explain success or failure, since either could prove important when mines were odorless. Zuckerman had a strong personal motivation—he had seen the devastating impact of blast injuries when he conducted wartime physiological research with the survivors. his larger agenda was to develop more rigorous experimental methods in animal research. Zuckerman found no solid evidence that dogs could be relied on to detect buried mines.

the u.S. Army, on the other hand, hired a “parapsychologist” named J. B. Rhine. It is not clear why—all the army records were later destroyed. though his training was in botany, Rhine had become famous for his experiments—never replicated— in extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis. For Rhine, the study was an opportunity to prove that ESP really existed; he had already gathered a collection of amazing stories of animal ESP. Rhine once again convinced himself that dogs possessed special powers.

ACCORDING TO A CIA VETERAN, VICTOR MARCHETTI, THIS ACHIEVEMENT WAS PART OF A PROGRAM TO DETERMINE WHETHER CATS COULD BE TURNED INTO SURVEILLANCE DEVICES: A LOT OF MONEY WAS SPENT. THEY SLIT THE CAT OPEN, PUT BATTERIES IN HIM, WIRED HIM UP. THE TAIL WAS USED AS AN ANTENNA

itive results.

In 1985, the army commissioned a blue-ribbon panel from the National Research Council to evaluate the program. the panel concluded there was “no scientific warrant for the existence of parapsychological phenomena” such as “remote-viewing”—sensing the location or appearance of things through sheer mental effort—or psychokinesis.

Nevertheless, over the following decade the army conducted between fifty and a hundred more such experiments. In 1995, another review of the remote-viewing program was commissioned, this time by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). once again, the reviewers found that, because of flaws in the research designs, there was no clear evidence demonstrating the existence of the paranormal.

Althoughproponents of secret science like to focus on examples in which it has benefited society, insiders from the very beginning of the Cold War worried that the best minds would not be drawn to work that they could not even talk about. Secrecy protected those involved from embarrassment or criminal prosecution, but it also made it much harder to vet experimental protocols, validate the results, or replicate them in follow-up research.

one research manager at a Department of Energy weapons lab would later admit, “Far more progress is actually evidenced in the unclassified fields of research than the classified ones.” the physicist Robert McCrory, whose own lab received millions in funding in partnership with lawrence livermore, Sandia, and los Alamos National laboratories, was even more blunt: “Some of the work is so poor that if it were declassified, it would be laughed off the face of the Earth.”

We can only guess what, specifically, McCrory had in mind when he said this. there are all too many possibilities. Collectively, they lend credence to the oft-stated concern that secret programs became a refuge for second- and third-rate minds. the wizards of langley, for instance, considered it a “remarkable scientific achievement” when they managed to prove that cats could be “trained to move short distances.” According to a CIA veteran, Victor Marchetti, this achievement was part of a program to determine whether cats could be turned into surveillance devices: A lot of money was spent. they slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. the tail was used as an antenna. they made a monstrosity. they tested him and tested him. they found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that. Finally they’re ready. they took it out to a park and pointed it at a park bench and said, “listen to those two guys. Don’t listen to anything else—not the birds, no dog or cat—just those two guys!” they put him out of the van, and a taxi comes and runs him over. there they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead!

the CIA nevertheless commended the “energy and imagination” of the team, and considered them potential “models for scientific pioneers.”

Secrecy protected those involved from embarrassment or criminal prosecution, but it also made it much harder to vet experimental protocols.

It could be argued that a sprawling research program purposely designed to push the envelope will, over several decades, inevitably produce some strange and lowquality research. But in some cases it is possible to make a side-by-side comparison of uS government research with research commissioned by another country that had fewer resources but the same goal.

For instance, during World War II, American and British forces both used dogs to detect mines. It was delicate, dangerous work, and the dogs sometimes proved unreliable. Both governments therefore mounted research projects in the early 1950s to evaluate and improve dogs’ ability to locate mines.

the British just wanted “the facts” and sought out a “trained scientist.” they selected Solly Zuckerman, an anatomist expert in animal behavior. he designed the experiment to eliminate the possibility that human handlers

Army officials found in follow-up work that the results were random, and another study proved to be a complete failure, marked by a “rather conspicuous refusal of the dogs to alert.” But Rhine used the army money to seed new research, and found new customers. the office of Naval Research funded a decade of work on ESP in homing pigeons. In other studies, one of Rhine’s colleagues tried to influence a cat telepathically to select one dish of food over another. But here, too, even Rhine admitted that the results were “not spectacular.” Alas, the cats proved “elusive.”

the uS government would spend several decades on the larger program of mind-control research. And Rhine was a paragon of scientific rigor compared with some of the other researchers on the government payroll, who espoused theories of extraterrestrial and ghostly visitations to explain ESP, and were hired by the uS Army to consult on psychedelic mushrooms.

the CIA’s Project MKultra involved a whole series of experiments on unwitting subjects, using a range of different drugs in order to manipulate them into saying and doing things against their will. It was given carte blanche to operate without the normal Agency accounting controls or need for written contracts. once again, researchers rapidly escalated their trials with little understanding of the effects. In the first round of an experiment conducted at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, one of the patients, harold Blauer, was given 0.4 mg of methylenedioxyphenyl-isopropylamine, a drug similar to ecstasy. the next dose was sixteen times stronger, and Blauer was dead in thirty minutes.

When the family took legal action, government lawyers threatened witnesses with prosecution under the Espionage Act. Decades later, CIA Director Stansfield turner admitted that “some unwitting testing took place,” but testified to Congress that the subjects were “criminal sexual psychopaths confined at a State hospital.” In fact, Blauer was a tennis pro who voluntarily sought treatment for depression after a divorce.

the CIA also experimented on its own personnel. In one case, the head of MKultra, a chemist named Sidney gottlieb, dosed the attendees of a joint Agency-army retreat with lSD. one of the unwitting subjects, an army biochemist named Frank olson, was traumatized by the experience. until then, olson had been an outgoing and devoted family man. Afterward, he sank into depression, overcome with feelings of shame, and would not return home. he told his army supervisor that he wanted to quit or be fired.

gottlieb was likely alarmed upon being warned about this situation. MKultra had been approved by the CIA director himself, Allen Dulles, who called the program “ultra-sensitive.” But gottlieb reportedly had not obtained prior authorization before drugging olson and the others. As an internal Agency report later noted, participants in this work well understood that their methods were “professionally unethical” and legally dubious, and would provoke “serious adverse reaction” from the public if ever revealed. gottlieb therefore had a powerful motivation to make certain olson told no one about what the CIA had done to him.

gottlieb and his deputy decided to take olson to see a New York doctor. the man had no psychiatric training but did have a top-secret CIA security clearance and experience with lSD. the doctor plied olson with bourbon and sedatives, and took him to see a performance by a

magician, whom gottlieb was interested in hiring to help dose more unwitting targets. olson’s public behavior became increasingly erratic, and he said that the Agency was “out to get him.” the doctor said he would take olson to a sanitarium to be treated by CIA psychiatrists. But that night, olson “fell” from the tenth floor of the Statler hotel in Manhattan.

gottlieb’s deputy was sharing the room with him, and claimed to have been asleep when it happened. his story was that olson had just crashed right through the window, without opening it first, or even raising the shade. We may never know what happened in that hotel room. But at the time, the CIA was training its assassins to first ply their victims with drugs or alcohol, and advised, “the most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface.”

the CIA was clearly prepared to kill innocent American citizens. Six weeks after the Agency covered up what happened to olson, a CIA mind-control team went on its first foreign assignment. the mission was to slip “artichoke”—likely lSD—into the drink of another unwitting subject and induce him to attempt an assassination of a prominent politician or American official. the artichoke team was primed for action, proudly noting that they “were ready when called upon for support, even though the operation did not materialize.”

Most of the MKultra records were later destroyed, so we cannot know what other missions might have aimed to achieve. But CIA mind-control research went on for more than a decade, involved some eighty different institutions, and would eventually cost approximately ten million dollars—about a hundred million in today’s dollars. A whole new mind-control program started up in 1972, this time led by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). the goal of this new program was “to determine whether anomalous mental phenomena (i.e. extrasensory perception and psychokinesis) existed and the degree to which such phenomena might be applicable to problems of national interest.” like MKultra, it went on for many years, and cost many millions of dollars. how many exactly is still difficult to determine. But a single California contractor, SRI International, would eventually receive $11.3 million (or about thirty-six million in today’s dollars).

Even escape artists and magicians saw that the government was being rooked, and patiently explained to officials how timeworn tools of their trade could easily trick someone into believing in ESP. So, too, did the scientists at DARPA, who concluded that the Israeli illusionist uri geller, the DIA’s star pupil, was a “charlatan.” they thought it was “ridiculous” that geller had fooled the uS government into using taxpayer dollars to see whether he could bend spoons with his brain. they pointed to a host of problems with the ESP and psychokinesis experiments, above all the fact that the people paid to conduct them had a financial incentive to produce pos-

But the AIR report found something even more damning. After some twenty-five years of experiments, the reviewers concluded, “In no case had the information provided ever been used to guide intelligence operations.” Even if some people really do have ESP that cannot be explained by science, the point of the program was not to use government resources to explore the twilight Zone. It was to support actual missions that would safeguard national security. Yet, despite all the time and money spent—not to mention the human costs—the government’s venture into the paranormal proved useless for any legitimate intelligence purposes.

Why, then, did the intelligence community and the Pentagon go to extremes in pursuing such embarrassing “research”? For the same reason why they felt they had license to control the weather and alter the upper atmosphere: because, under the cloak of secrecy, their hubris and magical thinking ran wild. Moreover, controlling people’s minds was a prize that was just too tempting to resist. And although the government may have given up on telekinetic spoons, it did not give up on that larger goal.

During the first decade of the “global War on terror,” the CIA pursued mind control through more direct methods—i.e., “enhanced interrogation.” the program employed psychological abuse, stress positions, and waterboarding not just to make people talk, but also to discover scientifically rigorous and reproducible methods for compelling subjects to submit to the will of interrogators and lose all sense of personal agency. Just like MKultra, the enhanced-interrogation program was conducted as a series of “experiments.” here is how the CIA’s office of Medical Services, in a top- secret 2004 document, described the protocol for recording the application of “treatments” to “subjects”: In order to best inform future medical judgments and recommendations, it is important that every application of the waterboard be thoroughly documented: how long each application (and the entire procedure) lasted, how much water was used in the process (realizing that much splashes off), how exactly the water was applied, if a seal was achieved, if the naso- or oropharynx was filled, what sort of volume was expelled, how long was the break between applications, and how the subject looked between each treatment.

the CIA hired a retired air-force psychologist named James Mitchell to enact these methods. Mitchell, too, saw himself as a scientist. As an informed source recounted to the journalist Jane Mayer, after Mitchell took over a case, he told the FBI agents that an interrogation “was like an experiment, when you apply electric shocks to a caged dog, after a while, he’s so diminished, he can’t resist.” When the agents argued that the subject of this experiment was a human being and not a dog, Mitchell retorted, “Science is science.”

Waterboarding, “diapering,” and stress positions ultimately proved no more effective than ESP or psychokinesis, as the CIA’s own internal reviews concluded. Many of the victims had already provided valuable intelligence to their interrogators before they were tortured, and once the waterboarding began, many offered false information in order to make it stop. But the waterboarding did not stop until Mitchell’s company was paid eighty-one million dollars.

Matthew Connelly is a professor of international and global history at Columbia University and the principal investigator at History Lab, an NSF-funded project to apply data science to the problem of preserving the public record and accelerating its release. He received his B.A. from Columbia and his Ph.D. from Yale. His previous publications include A Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria’s Fight for Independence and the Origins of the Post-Cold War Era, and Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population.

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Matthew Connelly

Delegation of Consumer Association of Pakistan visits PTA’s consumer protection division

NOT-BY- PROFIT Wind PoWer Projects to begin suPPlying electricity to national grid

Islamabad News desk

islamabaD: A delegation of the Women Wing from the Consumer Association of Pakistan (CAP) led by Syeda Raafia Mamujee, the Chairperson of Women Wing, CAP, visited the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) headquarters in Islamabad. The delegation was welcomed by Mr. Abdul Samad, Director General of Consumer Protection Division at PTA. During the visit, the delegation was given a detailed presentation on PTA’s role and functions, with a specific focus on initiatives taken for protecting the rights of telecom consumers. The presentation also covered the complaint processing/handling mechanism and the various channels through which PTA raises consumer awareness, including print, electronic and social media. The delegation was also briefed on the functions and working of the Consumer Protection Division (CPD) at PTA. They were informed that CPD is ISO 9001:2015 certified, demonstrating PTA's commitment to maintaining high standards in consumer protection efforts. Chairperson Women Wing CAP expressed her appreciation for PTA's efforts towards safeguarding the interests of telecom consumers. Both parties agreed to further enhance their cooperation for the betterment of Pakistan's telecom consumers. pr

Strict accountability in police department underway

islamabaD: CPO Operations dismissed two policemen from service for exceeding their powers and demanding bribes from citizens, a police public relations officer said. He said that, CPO Operations Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari received complaints that Constable Shajar Abbas and Constable Azhar Hussain, who were posted at Operations Division Eagle Squad, are not only exceeding their powers but also harassing families in public places. CPO Operations took notice and ordered a transparent inquiry in which the officials were found guilty. Both the officials were dismissed from service and a case was also registered against them and they were arrested. CPO Operations said that the process of accountability inside the department is underway and a zero tolerance policy will be adopted on corruption, such officers and officials who were involved in such activities will face strict departmental and legal proceedings. He further said that, strict departmental action will be taken against those who cause disgrace and showing laxity and negligence towards official duties. The job of the police is to protect the life and property of the citizens. Harassing people and asking for unconcerned documents is not included in the affairs of the police, citizens can contact 1715 to register any kind of complaints about the police officials, he maintained. pr

Innovative solutions needed to overcome economic challenges: Qamar

aFTeRmonths of nominal power generation, wind power projects (WPPs) in Pakistan are expected to start dispatching electricity to the national grid in the next 10 days. The Pakistan Wind energy Association Chairman, Rumman Arshad Dar, said that all 36 WPPs will become operational, although they are unlikely to be dispatched at 100% capacity. Currently, transmission lines from these projects in Jhimpir and Gharo areas of Sindh to the national grid are choked, leading to a violation of

the Policy for Development of Renewable energy for Power Generation 2006. The glut of power generation in the South region has created bottlenecks in transmitting electricity to the North region, leading to delays in the despatching of WPPs. Newly installed capacity in recent years, from wind and coal to nuclear, is based in the South region, leading to "choking" of the transmission network. Wind power capacity has a share of 4.5% in the installed capacity but only 2.5% in the national energy mix as of December 2022.

To resolve the issue of curtailment faced by WPPs, the Pakistan Wind energy Association

plans to meet with the National electric Power Regulatory Authority and the National Power Control Centre in the second half of March to develop a long-term solution. In the meantime, the NPCC will start dispatching WPPs in 10 or so days. NPCC has demanded wind forecasts to enable it to plan ahead and curtail non-renewable plants when there is wind. The pace of construction work on transmission lines slowed down due to various reasons, including a rapid rise in the prices of cement and steel, nationwide floods, and complications arising out of the right-of-way issues.

To read the full article visit www.dawn.com

Community solar subscriptions can bring down electricity costs for Pakistani consumers

Islamabad

News desk

The cost of electricity and petroleum in Pakistan has been a major concern for households, especially those in the middle class with an income of Rs35,000 per month. These households are spending around half of their monthly income on electricity and fuel expenses, leaving little room for other essential expenses like food, rent, and children's education. This situation is expected to worsen further as the government plans to eliminate electricity and petroleum subsidies based on the International Monetary Fund's requirements.

However, this situation can turn into a blessing if the government uses it as an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of technological solutions like solar, electric motorcycles, and lithium-based batteries. These solutions can eliminate the need for subsidies permanently and offer multiple benefits, including alleviating the burden on the middle class, reducing the oil import bill, creating a cleaner environment, and establishing local manufacturing for internal consumption and exports.

One of the ways to significantly bring down electricity bills is by renting a small portion of a large solar farm. The expansion of rooftop solar and community solar subscription, a recent innovation for large-scale solar farms, also needs to be consid-

ered for lower-cost electricity.

Rooftop solar installations have been a success story in Pakistan for the past few years, with more than 20,000 net metering licenses issued by the end of 2021-22, adding 450MW to the system.

The 10x reduction in solar panel prices during the last decade, steep escalation in electricity tariffs, and net metering have made solar installation one of the best investments, with a payback of fewer than four years, while providing an excellent hedge against inflation and tariff escalation.

Advanced LFP (Lithium Ferrous Phosphate) batteries, with 15 plus years life, are also becoming financially feasible for peak hours use with imminent peak rate hike.

Despite the success of rooftop solar, there is still much room for growth. There are 610,000 households in Pakistan using 700 plus units and 16.8 million households consuming 300-700 units on average per month. The country can easily achieve at least 10,000MW of rooftop solar installations on just 5 percent of these houses during the next five years by continuing with the current net metering and export rate incentives.

For households using 500–700 units per month, rooftop installations can be accelerated by providing incentives such as reinstating lowcost loans, removing current limitations on net metering, and eliminating 17pc general sales tax

on solar equipment for 10KW or smaller installations. However, rooftop solar is not a practical option for lower-income households (300–500 units per month consumption) because of higher cost per kilowatt for a smaller system, financial constraints, roof space availability, rental housing, and apartment living.

This is where community solar comes in as a practical and lower cost solution for these households and industrial facilities. In the community solar subscription model, consumers either purchase or rent a small portion of a large solar farm operated by the utility or a private developer. For example, for a 100 MW solar farm located near an industrial zone, multiple industrial facilities can purchase 20pc of this farm's capacity (20MW), providing equity investment, while the remaining 80pc (80MW) can be subscribed (rented) by 80,000 low usage household (300-500 units) customers with a limit of 1KW for each.

Because of economies of scale, the per kilowatt cost of these solar farms is 15-20pc lower than a rooftop system, thus reducing the purchase or rental cost. Also, since the industry will be providing equity investment, there won’t be a need to find large investors for these solar farms.

To read the full article visit www.dawn.com

Overpopulation: Security-insecurity Paradox

afnan WasIf

World is facing immense problems. There was a clear distinction between natural and man-made challenges faced by the world in the past. But in contemporary times, spheres of natural and manmade challenges are overlapping. One of the reasons for this overlapping is the sophistication of the world. All the challenges ranging from climate change to poverty, hunger, and lack of quality education, etc. revolve around one core issue and that is population.

go for man-made options to meet the requirements of their masses. For example, Pakistan is striving hard due to its economic crisis nowadays. One of the core problems of Pakistan’s fragile economy is the population.

Washington DC: Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar today met leadership of American Apparel & Footwear Association and representatives of Pak leading businesses here at Embassy of Pakistan. The delegation included Stephen Lamar, President & CEO American Apparel & Footwear Association, Nate Harmen, Senior Vice President (Policy), Beth Hughes, Vice President (Trade & Customs Policy), Ms. Hun Quach, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Levi Strauss & Co. and Greg Snipes, CFO & COO, Royce Too LLC. Other participants included Shelley Rider (Interloop), Steve Pianowski (Nishat Chunian), Irfan Hassan (Al-Karam), Ahmed Fraz (Gul Ahmed), Mubasher Butt (Prgmea), Muneeb Tariq (PHMA) and Kamran Arshad (APTMA). Secretary Commerce Muhammad Sualeh Ahmed Faruqi briefed the participants about various steps being taken to facilitate business community and address their issues. Pak Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan also joined the meeting. The meeting discussed in detail matters relating to bilateral trade in cotton and textiles with a special focus on strengthening of Pak-US trade relations, institutionalization of mutual linkages, standardization, traceability and visibility of products and facilitation of the business community. Addressing the participants, Commerce Minister said that Pakistan was keen to strengthen its economic ties with the United States. He said that the private sector and the business community had a key role in realizing the vision of enhanced trade ties between the two countries. pr

On 15 November 2022, the world’s population reached 8 billion people, a milestone in human development. The world population is projected to reach 8.5 billion in 2030, and to increase further to 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion by 2100. According to World Bank, the most recent number of individuals in Pakistan is 231 million. It was only 45 million in 1960. Scientists have predicted that Pakistan’s population may peak at about 314 million in 2062.

Why is the increase in population alarming?

Human beings are dependent on natural resources. And natural resources are inversely proportional to population growth. With the passage of time, natural resources are continuously depleting. For example, the land for shelter is a natural resource. And how it is depleting could be seen on 14 February 2023, when António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, remarked that Rising seas are sinking futures.

Sea-level rise is not only a threat in itself. It is a threat multiplier. Rising seas threaten lives, and jeopardize access to water, shelter, food, and healthcare. The danger is especially acute for nearly 900 million people who live in coastal zones at low elevations — that’s one out of ten people on earth. According to NASA, Antarctica is losing an average of 150 billion tons of ice mass annually. The Greenland ice cap is melting even faster — losing 270 billion tons per year.

Above mentioned issues are disturbing. These all problems stem from population growth. Be-

cause we are creating such devastating problems through our own actions. And why we are doing so? Because existing limited resources make us unable to maneuver effectively in order to fulfill the needs of the masses. To overcome this problem, we are compelled to adopt artificial ways to increase our production.

These ways in turn are degrading our planet immensely. It is becoming a sort of Security-insecurity Paradox. Although this particular term is used in Strategic studies to understand the phenomenon of war stating that when two countries each have nuclear weapons, the probability of a direct war between them greatly decreases, but the probability of minor or indirect conflicts between them increases. It might be applied to the phenomenon of disproportion between population growth and limited natural resources. Securing the needs of individuals indirectly causes harm to our planet in the shape of climate change, sea level rise, and global warming, etc.

In developing and underdeveloped countries the picture is different. They are even unable to

Its economy and limited resources are unable to bear the burden of about 230 million people. It is destructing the social fabric and cohesion of society. As people are deprived of their basic needs. They have no access to quality education, health, food, water, and shelter. It cannot even afford sophisticated technology to boost its agricultural yield and place industries to increase the wealth pie of the nation. Industrialization and the use of technology in the agricultural sector have severe implications for the earth.

The recent flash floods of 2022 in Pakistan are an example of the effects of carbon emissions from industries including agriculture. In fact, its contribution towards global warming is negligible. But we suffered a lot. Why because other nations are trying to fulfill the necessities of their masses by other means. ensuring the security of the masses of developed nations makes insecurity for the nations like Pakistan. The entire struggle in both traditional and non-traditional paradigms of security revolves around the population.

Developing and underdeveloped countries must have to think to control their population as China did from 1979 to 2016 by adopting the onechild policy. Awareness among young couples is far more necessary as could be seen in Chinese society. As now in China, couples could have three kids. But they are reluctant to bear new babies as the living costs are too high and most importantly upbringing becomes much more difficult. Such policies and awareness must be implemented and spread respectively, in order to prosper while effectively utilizing limited natural resources to meet the needs of the general masses.

The author is a student of Strategic Studies at National Defence University, Islamabad. He tweets at @afnanwasif

China’s position paper on Ukraine Crisis ‘important ContribUtion’: Un

islamabad Mian abRaR

CHiNA’s position paper on political settlement of Ukraine crisis represents “an important contribution,” a United Nations (UN) spokesman said on Friday. China on Friday released a paper stating its position on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, saying dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solutions. Expounding on China’s positions and propositions, the paper set out a path for promoting a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and responded to the common concerns of the international community.

“i think the plan put forward by the Chinese government is an important contribution,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a regular press briefing.

“i think the call on the need to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is particularly important,” he added.

Developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa of the Global South will support China’s peaceful proposal for a political solution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, according to reports.

Since the outbreak of the UkraineRussia conflict, China has been stressing the need to end the conflict through dialogue and negotiation, noted a Spanish online newspaper, adding that China wants to strengthen its role as a pacifist state amid Western militarism.

China to play responsible, ConstruCtive role: China is ready to continue to play a responsible and constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis, a Chinese envoy said on Friday.

Addressing a high-level Security Council briefing on Ukraine, Dai Bing, charge d’affaires of China’s permanent mission to the UN, said that “we have always taken an objective and impartial stance based on the merits of the issue.”

Dai stressed that when handling and solving international disputes, universally recognized international law, including the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, must be upheld. “Some country, while stressing sover-

China’s top legislature concludes standing committee session

islamabad

Staff RepoRt

The Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) concluded its 39th session in Beijing on Friday. At the closing meeting, lawmakers adopted a decision to remove Tang Yijun from the post of minister of justice and appoint He Rong to the position. President Xi Jinping signed a presidential order to promulgate the decision. Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting.

Lawmakers voted to adopt a decision on adjusting the application of some provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law for the military during wartime. Members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee adopted the committee’s work report. The Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee proposed entrusting Li to deliver the work report to the first session of the 14th NPC on behalf of the committee. Lawmakers approved a report reviewing the qualifications of the 14th NPC deputies and confirmed the validity of 2,977 deputies to the 14th NPC. They also passed a report on the qualifications of some 13th NPC deputies. There are currently 2,918 deputies to the 13th NPC. At the meeting, other bills of appointments or removals were approved.

Other documents adopted included a draft agenda of the first session of the 14th NPC, a draft name list of the presidium and secretary-general, and a name list of people invited to sit in on the session as non-voting participants. Addressing the closing meeting, Li said that the 13th NPC Standing Committee has focused on the central task of the Party and the country, fulfilled its duties and responsibilities.

eignty and territorial integrity on the Ukraine issue, is blatantly interfering in other countries’ internal affairs and undermining their sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Dai said. “This reveals its double standard at full display. The international community is clear-eyed about this.” He underscored the need to pursue common security to facilitate a political solution to the Ukraine crisis, saying security is not an exclusive right enjoyed only by some countries.

The security of one country should not be pursued at the expense of others. Strengthening or even expanding military blocs will only undermine regional security and will never bring about peace, he said.

To realize lasting peace and stability in Europe, cold war mentality and bloc confrontation must be abandoned, and the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously and addressed properly, so as to build a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture, said Dai.

Highlighting diplomatic negotiations as the only right way to solve the Ukraine crisis, he said “conflicts have no winners” and called on the international community to promote peace talks with the highest sense of urgency and work to create enabling factors and platforms for the resumption of negotiation.

Bringing parties to the conflict back to the negotiating table is not going to be easy, but it is the first step toward a political solution, he said.

“We call on Russia and Ukraine to resume negotiations without any preconditions,” the envoy said. “Ukraine is not an arena for fights between major countries. No one should seek to benefit from the conflict at the cost of the Ukrainian people.”

Dai emphasized that it is imperative to never cross the red line of nuclear security under any circumstances.

Nuclear weapons must never be used, and nuclear war must never be fought. Faced with the risk that the Ukraine crisis could lead to an escalation of the conflict, major countries bear special and important responsibilities to maintain communication and coordination and to do everything they can to prevent a nuclear crisis, he said.

EU agrees new sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine

bRUssEls

afp

The EU agreed to a new round of sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the crisis, the bloc’s Swedish presidency announced.

The package — the 10th the EU has imposed since Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion — contains, it said, “targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia in the war”.

Final approval of the sanctions was expected early Saturday if no EU country raises a last-ditch objection.

The details on the listed individuals and entities will then be published in the European Union’s official gazette.

One EU diplomat told AFP that 120 individuals and entities, and three more Russian banks, were listed.

The EU’s measures echoed sanctions announced earlier Friday by the United States and by Britain, and came in the wake of a G7 statement that warned of penalties for any country abetting Russia in its war.

Another EU diplomat said the agreement on sanctions held “no compromise” to a proposal put forward to member states by the European Commission.

That proposed package promised to cut off industrial goods worth 11 billion euros ($12 billion) to Russia and target drone producers in iran whose unmanned aircraft containing warheads Moscow has been using to attack Ukrainian targets.

Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had said the goods put under sanctions for Russia would include electronics and machine parts that can be used in Russian

ankara begins to rebuild for 1.5m left homeless by earthquakes as death toll crosses 50,000

aNKaRa agencieS

Turkiye has begun work to rebuild homes following this month’s devastating earthquakes, a government official said on Friday, as the combined death toll in Turkiye and Syria surpassed 50,000.

More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb 6 earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Turkiye and neighbouring Syria.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced the death toll in Turkiye due to earthquakes rose to 44,218 on Friday night.

With Syria’s latest announced a death toll of 5,914, the combined death toll in the two countries rose to above 50,000.

Facing an election within months, President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year, although experts have said the authorities should put safety before speed. Some buildings that were meant to withstand tremors crumbled in the latest earthquakes.

“For several projects, tenders and contracts have been done. The process is moving very fast,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding there would be no compromise on safety. Authorities say tents have been dispatched for the many who are homeless, but people have reported trouble accessing them.

“i have eight children. We are living in a tent. There is water on top (of the tent) and the ground is damp. We are asking for more tents and they don’t give them to us,” Melek, 67, who was waiting in a line to collect aid outside a high school in the town of Hassa.

drones, missiles, helicopters and other weapons systems.

She had said that seven iranian entities providing dual-use products to Russia were also included in the commission sanctions proposal.

The EU has already imposed nine waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, hitting key Russian exports like oil in a bid to cut Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war chest.

Several EU diplomats had told AFP that complaints from Poland had slowed down agreement on the latest sanctions because Warsaw had viewed them as insufficient.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday, as he visited Kyiv before the EU sanctions agreement was announced, that the proposals from Brussels were “too soft, too weak”.

Biden says he does not ‘anticipate’ China providing weapons to Russia

WasHiNGTON afp

US President Joe Biden said he does not “anticipate a major initiative” from China to provide weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine. His comments come days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS that China was “considering providing lethal support” to Moscow ranging “from ammunition to the weapons themselves” — which Beijing denied.

in a wide-ranging television interview with ABC News — covering his bid for reelection and the war in Ukraine — that aired Friday evening, Biden appeared to backtrack

on Blinken’s comments.

“i don’t anticipate — we haven’t seen it yet — but i don’t anticipate a major initiative on the part of China providing weaponry to Russia,” he said.

Biden explained that in a conversation he had with Chinese President Xi Jinping last summer, he made clear what the consequences of providing weapons to Russia would be.

“Without any government prodding, 600 American corporations left Russia — from McDonald’s to Exxon — across the board,” he said he told Xi.

“And i said, ‘if you are engaged in the same kind of brutality, of supporting the brutality that is going on, you may face the same consequences.'”

When pressed on whether China would be “crossing a line” if Beijing were to provide weapons to Russia, Biden said the United States “would respond.”

“it would be the same line everyone else would have crossed. in other words, we would impose severe sanctions on anyone who has done it.”

Ukraine’s allies have sought to use sanctions and trade bans to choke off Russia’s ability to acquire more weapons or produce them domestically using imported components.

On Friday, the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations said any country abetting Moscow by providing “material support” in its war would “face severe costs.”

The school was being used as an aid distribution centre by a group of volunteers called interrail Turkiye. One volunteer, Sumeyye Karabocek, said the shortage of tents remained the biggest problem. Erdogan’s government has endured a wave of criticism over both its response to the devastation and what many Turks say were years of non-enforcement of construction quality control. The Turkish government’s initial plan now is to build 200,000 apartments and 70,000 village houses at a cost of at least $15 billion, he said. US bank JPMorgan had estimated rebuilding houses and infrastructure will cost $25bn.

The UNDP said it estimated that the destruction has left 1.5 million people homeless, with 500,000 new homes needed. it said it had requested $113.5m from the $1bn in funds appealed for by the United Nations last week, adding that it would focus this money on clearing away mountains of rubble.

The UNDP estimates that the disaster had produced between 116m and 210m tons of rubble, compared with 13m tons of rubble after the earthquake in northwest Turkiye in 1999.

HBL PSL 8: LaHore, rawaLPiNdi MatCHeS to go aHead aS SCHedULed

isLamabaD

stAFF rePort

tHEPakistan Super League (PSL) season eight matches were on coarse to be held in Lahore and Rawalpindi as per schedule, as the deadlock between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the interim Punjab government was expected to end today.

Minister of Health from the interim government, Dr. Javed Akram, had confirmed to Express News that the PSL matches will not be shifted from Lahore and Rawalpindi to Karachi.

The interim Punjab government had demanded PKR500 million from PCB to conduct the matches in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

The board has already paid PKR50 million to Punjab government for expenses on food.

The provincial government were now demanding the remaining PKR450 million for lighting and security purposes. In order to save these expenses, the board is now considering shifting the Punjab-leg of PSL 8 to Karachi.

According to sources, the interim Government of Punjab has decided to be flexible on lights, security and other expenses. They have decided to borne fifty percent of the bill

Man Utd, Newcastle bid to end trophy droughts in League Cup final

LONDON AFP

Manchester United will aim to end their six-year trophy drought when Erik ten Hag’s resurgent side face Newcastle in Sunday’s League Cup final, while the Magpies’ Saudi-funded revolution could produce the club’s first major prize since 1969.

As underachieving members of English football’s aristocracy in recent years, United hope the showpiece at Wembley can serve as a long-awaited rebirth. However, revelling in their role as nouveau riche irritants to the Premier League’s established powers, Newcastle believe the final can serve as concrete proof they are now a force to be reckoned with. United haven’t won a major trophy since the 2017 Europa League, a prize they claimed just weeks after beating Southampton in their most recent League Cup final appearance.

As if their longest trophy drought for 40 years wasn’t bad enough, United also suffered the indignity of watching bitter rivals Manchester City surpass them as England’s preeminent football force.

United, who last won the title in 2013, finished a dismal sixth in the Premier League last term.

But after a decade in the wilderness, they have been revived by Ten Hag since his arrival from Ajax last year. Crucially, Ten Hag’s handling of Cristiano Ronaldo showed he would not be intimidated by player power, bringing an end to the Portugal star’s second spell at United.

“He first arrived and the training sessions we had, he demands ‘you do it or you’re out’. You don’t play,” United midfielder Bruno Fernandes said.

“Everyone was a little bit like ‘If a big player doesn’t do what he wants will he pull him apart or not?’ And he did that many times, he did it with Cristiano, with Jadon (Sancho), with Marcus (Rashford).”

There is no more tangible sign of Ten Hag’s impact than the blistering form of revitalised United forward Rashford, who is battling to be fit for Wembley after suffering an injury in Thursday’s Europa League win against Barcelona. Ten Hag has tried to temper expectations in his first season but he knows victory this weekend would be a meaningful moment for a club climbing out of the doldrums. “It’s a great opportunity to get the silverware.

payment, which is PKR 250 million. While they have asked PCB to borne the remaining PKR 250 million.

However, PCB is still not ready to pay any amount for security, lights, and other expenses handed over by the government.

During the meeting between the aforementioned parties on Friday as well, PCB had flatly refused to pay the bills of PKR450 million.

PCB has sent the message to interim government that Lahore will host two games, after which the league can shift to Karachi. The board is hoping the patron-inchief of the board and Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharift, to intervene in the matter. Matches in Lahore will start from February 26, while

‘Become human first’: Ramiz slams Akhtar over Babar comment

isLamabaD stAFF rePort

Former PCB chairman, Ramiz Raja has slammed Shoaib Akhtar’s recent comments on Babar Azam, Kamran Akmal and Shaheen Afridi.

Akhtar had recently criticized Babar’s communication skills and said that he wants the Pakistan captain to become as big a brand as Indian superstar batsman, Virat Kohli.

The former pacer also mocked Akmal’s pronunciation of the word ‘screen’ on a live TV program.

While speaking on a local TV channel, Raja said that the Akhtar should refrain from giving unnecessary and over the top statements regarding other former and current cricketers.

“Shoaib Akhtar is a delusional superstar. He also had an issue recently with Kamran Akmal. He wants everyone to become a brand, but it is more important to become a human first. First become a human

and then a brand,” Raja said.

“Our former players degrade our cricket brand by giving delusional statements. You will never see that happening in our neighbouring country. You will never see Sunil Gavaskar criticizing Rahul Dravid. It only happens in Pakistan, where former players don’t let others do their job professionally,” he

HBL PSL 8: azam Khan defends Babar azam’s batting approach

added.

When asked about Akhtar’s aspirations about becoming chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Raja advised Akhtar to complete his graduation first.

“He needs to get a graduate degree first in order to become eligible for chairmanship of PCB,” he concluded.

Misbah impressed by three young cricketers in HBL PSL 8

isLamabaD stAFF rePort

Former PCB chairman, Ramiz Raja has slammed Shoaib Akhtar’s recent comments on Babar Azam, Kamran Akmal and Shaheen Afridi.

Akhtar had recently criticized Babar’s communication skills and said that he wants the Pakistan captain to become as big a brand as In-

dian superstar batsman, Virat Kohli.

The former pacer also mocked Akmal’s pronunciation of the word ‘screen’ on a live TV program.

While speaking on a local TV channel, Raja said that the Akhtar should refrain from giving unnecessary and over the top statements regarding other former and current cricketers.

“Shoaib Akhtar is a delusional

superstar. He also had an issue recently with Kamran Akmal. He wants everyone to become a brand, but it is more important to become a human first. First become a human and then a brand,” Raja said.

“Our former players degrade our cricket brand by giving delusional statements. You will never see that happening in our neighbouring country.

Islamabad United batsman, Azam Khan has defended Peshawar Zalmi skipper, Babar Azam’s approach in the match between the two sides on Thursday in HBL PSL 8. Zalmi had suffered a batting collapse against United after the end of the powerplay, with Hasan Ali taking three crucial wickets to dent their chances of posting a formidable total. Babar had raced to his half-century in just 33 balls, but his next 25 deliveries could only yield 25 runs.

However on Friday, Azam played a blazing knock of 97 runs from 42 balls against Quetta Gladiators. With United reeling at 43-3, Azam came onto bat and finished his innings at an astonishing strike rate of 230.95.

When asked about the difference in his approach to that of Zalmi’s skipper, the 24-year-old explained why Babar had to be a little more careful, while being stranded at one end.

“Opening is a different position, middle order is different. Middle order has lesser balls to play with. Either you’ll be 40 for 4 in the powerplay, or you’ll be 120 for 3 and you’ll have to finish things off,” said Azam in a post-match presser.

“It is a very tricky number, people normally see averages in this regard but the main thing is strike rate. If you look at the top power hitters in the world, their averages don’t matter. T20 is all about impact. Babar bhai is right, that if your team is six down then at the end you have to carry your team. I think criticizing a world-class player is unfair, my mindset is different when I play.”

Anderson fires England into control of test against New Zealand

WELLiNGTON

AFP

James Anderson validated his elevation to the top spot in the world Test bowling rankings with a lethal opening spell as England took full control of the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday.

Veteran seamer Anderson snared 3-37, sending the Black Caps crashing to 138-7 when rain forced an early end to day two in Wellington, after England declared their first innings at 435-8.

Spinner Jack Leach also took three scalps, leaving New Zealand staring at a 297-run deficit with three days remaining.

Red-hot England are on course for a sweep of the two-match series, having won the first Test by 267 runs at Mount Maunganui with the same mix of aggressive bat-

ting and potent new-ball bowling.

Joe Root was unbeaten on 153 when captain Ben Stokes made his assertive declaration, leaving the tourists half an hour to attack the Black Caps top order before lunch.

Anderson answered the call, removing Devon Conway (0) and Kane Williamson (4) to have the hosts languishing at 12-2.

The exacting paceman removed Will Young (2) after the break to underscore why he’d been reinstated to No 1 in the ICC player rankings released this week – the oldest player to hold the perch, at 40.

All three batsmen feathered edges to gloveman Ben Foakes, extending the number of Test victims caught by a wicketkeeper off Anderson to 188 – 36 more than any other bowler.

Left-handers Tom Latham (35) and Henry Nicholls (30) launched a rearguard

but both fell when attempting to reversesweep Leach (3-45), offering catches to fielders around the bat.

First-Test centurion Tom Blundell head reached 25 not out before play was called off at 5.45 pm (0445 GMT), and his free-wheeling captain Tim Southee was unbeaten on 23 — in an innings featuring two sixes.

About 25 overs were lost to the late rain, mirroring the premature finish to day one when the clouds opened. However, England still have ample time to push for a seventh straight Test win and consign New Zealand to an eighth successive winless Test.

Earlier, England lost five wickets and racked up a further 120 runs in an entertaining opening session after resuming at 315-3.

Harry Brook fell in the third over for 186, having added just two to his overnight score.

Rawalpindi will host the PSL matches from March 1.

‘FAke news’: GovT rejecTs reporTs oF sAlAry, pensIon suspensIon

ISLAMABAD staff report

THeMinistry of Finance on Saturday rejected the reports claiming that the federal government issued instructions to stop payment of pay and pensions, saying all such rumours are completely false.

The clarification comes after a local english daily reported that the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) was directed by the finance ministry to stop clearing all the bill of the “federal ministries/divisions and attached departments till further orders”. even the clearance of salary bills has also been stopped, the report added.

“This is completely false as no such instructions have been given by the Finance Division, which is the concerned federal ministry,” a press release issued by the finance division said.

The statement further said that AGPR has confirmed that pay and pension have already been processed and

will be paid on time.

“Further, other payments are being processed as per routine. There are certain rumours doing rounds that the government had instructed to stop such payments,” it added.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also termed the reports as ‘fake news,’ saying

Meta heats up Big Tech’s AI arms race with new language model

pROfIt reuters

Meta Platforms Inc (MeTA.O) said on Friday it was releasing to researchers a new large language model, the core software of a new artificial intelligence system, heating up an AI arms race as Big Tech companies rush to integrate the technology into their products and impress investors.

The public battle to dominate the AI technology space kicked off late last year with the launch of Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and prompted tech heavyweights from Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) to China’s Baidu Inc (9888.HK), to trumpet their own offerings.

Meta’s LLaMA, short for Large Language Model Meta AI, will be available under non-commercial license to researchers and entities affiliated with government, civil society, and academia, it said in a blog.

Large language models mine vast amounts of text in order to summarize information and generate content. They can answer questions, for instance, with sentences that can read as though written by humans. The model, which Meta said requires “far less” computing power than previous offerings, is trained on 20 languages with a focus on those with Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

“Meta’s announcement today appears to be a step in testing their generative AI capabilities so they can implement them into their products in the future,” said Gil Luria, senior software analyst at D.A. Davidson.

“Generative AI is a new application of AI that Meta has less experience with, but is clearly important for the future of their business.”

AI has emerged as a bright spot for investments in the tech industry, whose slowing growth has prompted widespread layoffs and a cutback on experimental bets. Meta said LLaMA could outperform competitors that examine more parameters, or variables that the algorithm takes into account.

Specifically, it said a version of LLaMA with 13 billion parameters can outperform GPT-3, a recent predecessor to the model on which ChatGPT is built.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

that spreading the same caused harm to the national economic interests.

“Kindly refrain from circulating such reports/news without verifying same from the concerned ministry,” he added.

The development comes as confusion surrounding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement with

Pakistan on Wednesday failed to break impasse with the global lender on a new contentious issue of permanently imposing a Rs3.82 per unit debt surcharge to recover Rs284 billion more from electricity consumers.

Against the government’s decision to impose the new surcharge for eight months (March-October 2023), the IMF has asked the government to keep the levy as a permanent fixture in electricity bills until the government settles the Rs800 billion circular debt parked in a company.

The sources said that the finance minister urged the IMF to announce the staff-level agreement since the country had met more than 90% of the conditions. But the IMF termed Rs3.82 per unit debt surcharge as “critical” for the resolution of the power sector circular debt, which will still climb to Rs2.4 trillion despite massive increase in the power tariffs.

The 10-day IMF staff-level visit ended on February 9 and despite taking two more weeks both sides have yet to end their differences on major policy matters.

Boeing temporarily halts 787 deliveries

pROfIt reuters

Boeing Co has temporarily halted deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets as the US plane maker conducts additional analysis on a fuselage component, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday.

Deliveries will not resume until the FAA is satisfied that the issue has been addressed, the agency said.

“The FAA is working with Boeing to determine any actions that might be required for recently delivered airplanes,” the agency said.

Boeing said in reviewing certification records it “discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead. We notified the FAA and have paused 787 deliveries while we complete the required analysis and documentation.”

Spirit AeroSystems, which supplies the forward pressure bulkhead for the 787 jets, said it was aware that Boeing has halted deliveries.

“Based on the information we currently have and our interactions with Boeing to date, we believe it is too early to assert there was an ‘analysis error’ by

IMF flags debt restructuring hurdles,

pROfIt reuters

Group of 20 (G20) nations have some disagreements over restructuring debt for distressed economies, the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Saturday, adding that banning private cryptocurrencies should be an option.

Spirit,” the company said in a statement.

Boeing said it discovered the error within the past week.

“There is no immediate safety or flight concern for the in-service fleet,” Boeing said. “While near-term deliveries will be impacted, at this time we do not anticipate a change to our production and delivery outlook for the year.”

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Boeing has not handed over a Dreamliner since Jan 26 from the production line or from the dozens stored awaiting delivery because of a documentation issue.

Ruling alliance files plea seeking formation of full court in election date suo motu

ISLAMABAD staff report

The ruling parties — Pakistan Mulsim LeagueNawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — Saturday demanded the formation of Supreme Court’s full court bench to hear the suo motu notice taken over the apparent delay in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa general elections.

The plea — moved through Farooq H Naek, Kamran Murtaza, and Masoor Usman Awan — also sought the exclusion of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.

The development comes a few days after Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took a suo motu notice of an apparent delay in the elections of the assemblies,

which dissolved in Punjab and KP on January 14 and 18, respectively, and also formed a larger bench to hear the case.

The bench began hearing the case on Thursday afternoon. According to the chief justice’s statement, the bench is to assess who is eligible to issue the date for polls, the constitutional responsibility of the federation and provinces, and who will fulfil the constitutional responsibility of conducting elections and when.

Meanwhile, the ruling coalition — including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — has shared their reservations regarding the two judges in the bench. In a meeting presided by PM Shehbaz, the PML-N noted that it does not expect justice from the two SC judges and that they should recuse themselves from the benches hearing their cases.

India’s G20 presidency comes as its South Asian neighbours Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan are seeking urgent IMF funds due to an economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

China, the world’s largest bilateral creditor, urged the group of big economies on Friday to conduct a fair, objective and in-depth analysis of the causes of global debt issues as clamour grows for lenders to take a large haircut, or accept losses, on loans. “On debt restructuring, while there are still some disagreements, we now have the global sovereign debt roundtable with consideration of all public and private creditors,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters after chairing the roundtable with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“We just finished a session in which it was clear that there is a commitment to bridge differences for the benefit of countries.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said there were no “deliverables” from the meeting, which was mostly organizational.

Further discussions of the panel, which includes major bilateral creditors including China, India and the G7 countries, several debtor countries, are planned around the time of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in April.

“We certainly had that agreement that this is a useful forum,” Yellen told Reuters in an interview.

“We look forward to participating in it.”

CRYPTO RESTRICTIONS

Apart from restructuring debt, regulating cryptocurrencies is another priority area for India, which Georgieva agreed with.

“We have to differentiate between central bank digital currencies that are backed by the state and stable coins, and crypto assets that are privately issued,” Georgieva said.

“There has to be very strong push for regulation… if regulation fails, if you’re slow to do it, then we should not take off the table banning those assets, because they may create financial stability risk.” Yellen said she had not suggested the “outright banning of crypto activities, but it was critical to put in place a strong regulatory framework.”

‘Petrified’ PML-N attacking judges to run away from polls: Imran Khan

LAHORE staff report

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman

Imran Khan on Saturday criticized Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s “attack” on Supreme Court (SC) judges, saying that the purpose behind this narrative is to shifting focus and “run away from elections”.

The former prime minister took to Twitter where he lashed out at the PML-N chief organizer stating that by “attacking the SC they [Pakistan Democratic Movement –PDM] are damaging the federation and ensuring law of jungle prevails in Pakistan”.

In a separate tweet, the PTI chief continued

his tirade against the PDM and said that the coalition parties are “petrified of elections”.

“PDM leadership seen challenging us to dissolve KP & Punjab assemblies if we want elections! Now, when confronted, they are petrified of elections knowing they will be decimated,” said the former prime minister.

He added that the ruling government is “maligning the SC judges and are ready to violate the Constitution to avoid elections”.

The remarks by the PTI chairman come just days after Maryam fired a broadside against Imran Khan, Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed besides four serving and former judges of the Supreme Court in an address to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers’ convention.

The chief organiser and senior vice president of the PML-N trained all guns at the PTI chairman, saying that Imran was thrown into the garbage bin but the judges were picking him up.

It is pertinent to note that the statements by the leaders of the political parties come as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday stepped in and took suo motu notice of the delay in holding polls in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as the election process remains virtually paralysed by tensions between the stakeholders who disagree on the electoral law. Justice Bandial constituted a nine-member larger bench to adjudicate on the matter and said there was an apparent lack of clarity on the matter.

says banning crypto should be an option